Acceptance of female urologists among patients with suspected prostate disease

The number of practicing female urologists is rising. The aim of this study is to evaluate the acceptance of female urologists by male patients and their partners.

Men who underwent a prostate MRI or a prostate biopsy between January and December 2018 and their partners, were sent questionnaires prior to the examination. Two types of questionnaires were used. One questionnaire asked "I want to be seen by: (I) a male urologist or (II) a female urologist or (III) no preference" (Group_np), the other questionnaire only offered two possible answers: "I want to be seen by: (I) a male urologist or (II) a female urologist" (Group_m,f). All other questions were on prostate MRI and prostate biopsies.

Overall, 377 questionnaires were sent to patients. One hundred and ninety-six questionnaires (52.0%) were returned. In Group_np, 34.7% wanted to be seen by a male urologist, 60.8% of patients chose "no preference". The answers of the patients' female partners in Group_np did not differ statistically significant (57.3% chose "no preference", 0% chose a female urologist). In Group_m,f, 54.5% of patients preferred a male urologist, one patient wanted to be seen by a female urologist, 44.3% did not answer the question. In Group_m,f, there was no statistically significant difference in preference in regard to the doctor's gender between the patients and their female partners (57% of partners wanted a male urologist, 0% wanted a female urologist).

A large number of patients with prostate disease and their partners prefer male urologists rather than female urologists.