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anum said:are women more respected as physicians than in surg operating?!
there are greater number of patients who trust male surg... more,so are clinics The best option for a female doctor? 😕
Law2Doc said:I doubt the patients care -- many who see surgeons acknowledge that women have careers, some are unconscious anyhow, and quite a few aren't paying the bill and take what care they are offered (VA, poor). The real issues for women in surgery are the lack of lifestyle hours (if trying to have a family), and the fact that to some extent it is more of an old boy's club specialty than some other specialties (this is changing slowly).
Church said:It partially depends on where you plan on practicing... some places are generally more "enlightened" than others. Here in the deep south, my lawyer wife occasionally has problems with older men who don't think a young woman lawyer (pretty sure you could substitute doctor there, too) could help them.
Me? I go with competence, irrespective of gender/race/etc... But then, I'm reasonably enlightened. Not fully, but reasonably.
anum said:so shd the ans to it be that women who plan on havn a family say bye bye... to a possible life as a surgeon.....or vice a versa....
vtucci said:There are traditionally female friendly specialties like OB and peds. OB has a malignant lifestyle just like surgery. The real question is what do you want to do and where do you want to do it. If you enjoy what you do than the hours do not matter as much. NYC, Chicago, LA etc. you may run into a few older docs that have a prejudice re: women surgeons but most patients won't care so long as you dress the part and seem halfway competent.
As an aside.....When I was doing an EMT rotation in a hospital, several patients just assumed I was a doctor because I had a white coat, stethscope and I was Caucasian. In that particular hospital, most of the doctors in the ED (about 90%) were white, most of the nurses were African-American or Latino and the medics were a mixed rag tag lot. Patients do make assumptions but my experience (and perhaps this was because it was a big city hospital), there were a lot more stereotypes about race than gender.