Male doctors and female doctors, different medical styles: different users' satisfaction?

Objective. To analyse differences in the satisfaction of health service users associated with the sex of the attending doctor. Material and Methods. Data obtained from the Primary Care Services User Survey (2005), part of a project regarding user satisfaction with the Andalusian Public Health Services. A bivariate analysis was conducted, the two variables being doctors' sex and user satisfaction,as was an ANOVA, taking as a dependent variable the indicator of general satisfaction and as independent variables the characteristics of the individual and that of the system, including physician sex. Results. In the bivariate analysis a relation was confirmed between doctors' sex and satisfaction with the components of the health service received. Nevertheless, this influence disappears in the analysis of dependence, which includes sociodemographic and system variables. Conclusion. Differences between practices by male and female doctors are confirmed, but not the differences in general satisfaction with the service received.