Characteristics of women internists

The authors wished to describe characteristics of US women general and subspecialized internists and to compare them with each other and with other US women physicians.

The authors used data from the Women Physicians' Health Study (WPHS), a national questionnaire-based study of 4501 women physicians.

Women internists reported less (P < or =.01) career satisfaction than did other women physicians. Women general internists were also more likely than other women primary care physicians to report severe work stress and were more likely than other women internists and other primary care women physicians to want to change their specialty if reliving their lives. Compared with other subspecialties, subspecialized women internists were more likely to report working too much, and reported lower personal incomes and more hours of nonclinical work than did other women internists or other women specialists. For virtually all 14 examined counseling practices, subspecialized women internists reported more interest and confidence regarding counseling (and usually by substantial margins), and believed that they were better trained in counseling than were other women subspecialists. Women general internists performed somewhat better regarding counseling than did other women primary care practitioners, although this differential was neither as consistent nor as strong as those among women subspecialists.

US women general and subspecialized internists differ in a number of ways from each other and from other US women physicians. Particularly significantly, US women internists report several risk factors for career dissatisfaction, and, in fact, have less career satisfaction than do other women physicians.