Objective: This research examines whether patient perceptions are equivalently associated with patient-centered behavior in male and female medical students, and tests the impact of a message emphasizing the importance of patient-centeredness on analogue patients' perceptions of male and female medical students' performance.
Methods: Sixty-one medical students interacting with standardized patients (SPs) were viewed by 384 analogue patients (APs). APs were randomly assigned to receive a message emphasizing the value of patient-centeredness or of technical competence, or a neutral message, and then evaluated the medical students' competence in the interactions. Students' patient-centeredness was measured using the Four Habits Coding Scheme and Roter Interaction Analysis System.
Results: APs in the neutral and technical competence conditions gave higher competence ratings to more patient-centered male students, but not to more patient-centered female students. However, APs who received the patient-centeredness message gave higher competence ratings to both male and female students who were higher in patient-centeredness.
Conclusion: Making it clear that patient-centeredness is a dimension of physician competence eliminated a gender bias in evaluating performance.
Practice implications: Because patient perceptions are often used in evaluations, gender biases must be understood and reduced so both male and female providers receive appropriate credit for their patient-centered behaviors.
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