Urology is a Sensitive Area: Assessing Patient Preferences for Male or Female Urologists

The number of women in urology training programs has recently surged. To date, to our knowledge, there have been no comprehensive studies of urology patients' preferences regarding the gender of the provider. We evaluated whether these preferences exist and for what subset of patients.

Convenience sampling of urology clinic patients at our rural academic center was used to collect data. Data on demographics/background, presenting diagnosis and presence or absence of gender preference were obtained. The chi-square, Fisher exact and Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel tests were used. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was performed comparing those with and those without gender preference.

The survey response rate was 73.8% with 477 questionnaires collected and 457 had adequate data for analysis. Overall 80% of patients had no gender preference for their provider and 18% stated a preference for the same gender with 2% for the opposite gender (p <0.0001). There was no significant difference between these categories in demographic factors or new vs established patient visit. Evaluating subsets by presenting diagnosis and controlling for patient gender, patients with incontinence had a statistically significant preference for the gender of their provider (p=0.003). Patients with different diagnoses did not demonstrate statistically significant gender preferences.

While most patients did not have a gender preference for their urology provider, a subset of patients did express a preference (ie patients with incontinence). Interestingly, other sensitive subjects such as erectile dysfunction were not associated with gender preference. As the female component of the urology workforce grows, a reasonable effort to meet patient preferences should be made while attempting to disabuse patients of stereotypical views.