Female patients treated by female physicians are less likely to be referred to the intensive care unit than male patients treated by male physicians, according to a study by Israeli researchers.
Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Soroka University Medical Center — both in Beersheba, Israel — examined the cases of 831 patients at the resuscitation room in Soroka's emergency department from 2011-12.
Here are three things to know.
1. Female physicians referred 20 percent fewer female patients to the hospital's restricted ICU than male physicians.
2. Female physicians referred 12 percent fewer female patients to the ICU than male patients.
3. "Previous studies show physicians are less likely to recognize symptoms that present differently in women, such as atypical chest pains, which can alter patient management and postpone delivery of crucial treatment," says Iftach Sagy, MD, a researcher at Soroka's Clinical Research Center and a lecturer at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. "For the first time, we've demonstrated that a possible gender bias can influence decisions about who should be admitted to an ICU."