[Being a male or female doctor is different in medical practice]

To identify the differences between the clinical practice (conduct) of male and female doctors and its determining factors; and to find the variability in the various conducts studied which is explained by a set of variables, gender among them.

Cross-sectional, multi-centre descriptive study.

Andalusian health centres with populations of over 100000 inhabitants.

Selection of 159 primary care doctors with postgraduate training by means of simple randomised sampling. 56% were men, 44% women, with power of comparisons at 68%.

Self-administered questionnaire to measure the dependent variable, overall conduct (clinical practice) and 11 dimensions of this conduct. Independent variables were: determinants of conduct identified by the theory of reasoned action (attitudes and subjective norm) and by the theory of social learning (self-efficacy and control locus), gender and other social and demographic variables and work conditions variables. Multiple linear regression models were constructed to explain each conduct analysed. Being a female doctor affects positively overall conduct and conduct in information, psycho-social guidance, prevention of obesity, active recruitment for family planning and collaboration with nurses.

In Andalusia women general practitioners have a more marked orientation towards the psycho-social sides of care than their male colleagues. They give more information to their patients and more frequently perform preventive activities linked to their gender. They also rely on the work of their nurses more than male doctors.