Gender and medical careers.

The concerns about physicians' career advancement tend to be raised in gender terms, because women presently constitute close to and will soon form a majority of the medical students in most western societies. The question is to what extent female and male medical students and residents today make similar or different career and lifestyle choices? Two major mechanisms have been referred to as the reason for gender differences in career paths for physicians. The major theoretical framework tends to be the socialization or sex-role theory and later versions of this explanatory framework. The other mechanism referred to is structural and points to the barriers or the concrete support that women and men experience in making their career decisions. Studies of medical students in the UK and US have shown that women students expected family demands to hamper career plans, while male students were less influenced by family concerns. The importance of role models and mentors in setting the career goals of medical students and residents has recently confirmed early studies of the topic. A number of studies have documented that early negative experiences or lack of encouragement in medical school deter women from choosing surgery as a career. Recent studies suggest that lifestyle choices rather than merely career advancement influence both female and male surgeons' career plans.

Part-time physicians...prevalent, connected, and satisfied.

OBJECTIVE: The health care workforce is evolving and part-time practice is increasing. The objective of this work is to determine the relationship between part-time status, workplace conditions, and physician outcomes. DESIGN: Minimizing error, maximizing outcome (MEMO) study surveyed generalist physicians and their patients in the upper Midwest and New York City. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Physician survey of stress, burnout, job satisfaction, work control, intent to leave, and organizational climate. Patient survey of satisfaction and trust. Responses compared by part-time and full-time physician status; 2-part regression analyses assessed outcomes associated with part-time status. Of 751 physicians contacted, 422 (56%) participated. Eighteen percent reported part-time status (n = 77, 31% of women, 8% of men, p < .001). Part-time physicians reported less burnout (p < .01), higher satisfaction (p < .001), and greater work control (p < .001) than full-time physicians. Intent to leave and assessments of organizational climate were similar between physician groups. A survey of 1,795 patients revealed no significant differences in satisfaction and trust between part-time and full-time physicians. CONCLUSIONS: Part-time is a successful practice style for physicians and their patients. If favorable outcomes influence career choice, an increased demand for part-time practice is likely to occur.

Gender and images of heart disease in Scandinavian drug advertising.

AIMS: This study examines the construction of the "heart disease candidate" in advertisements for cardiovascular drugs in Scandinavian medical journals. METHODS: All advertisements for cardiovascular drugs (n = 603) in Scandinavian medical journals (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden) in 2005 were collected. Only advertisements that portray users (n = 289, 48% of the advertisements) were analyzed. RESULTS: The results show that coronary candidacy is constructed as a male condition in half of the advertisements for cardiovascular drugs. The advertisements suggest a gendering of heart disease: men are the major victims of heart failure and cardiac insufficiency, and women are in need of cholesterol-lowering drugs. The cardiovascular drug advertisements portray a restoration of men's hyperactive agency, valorized by means of sporty images, by drawing on masculinity as a fixed trait and behavior. Hypercholesterolemia as a woman's disease reproduces the tyranny of slimness for women: Only women's stoutness is medicalized, and there are no pictures of heavy men. CONCLUSIONS: The findings point to the public health implications of gendered images of coronary candidacy in medical advertising.

Developments in Scandinavian and American medical sociology.

This paper examines the similarities and differences in Scandinavian and American medical sociology. First, the issue of medicalization has not been as important in Scandinavian as it has been in American medical sociology. Second, women's health has been less explored in Scandinavian than in American medical sociology. Third, research on social inequalities and health has been a major focus in Scandinavian medical sociology since the 1990s. Fourth, cultural sociology and the poststructuralist perspective have been part of mainstream theory building in European sociology and also European and Scandinavian medical sociology during the past decade, while American medical sociology has been characterized by social-role theory and a quantitative approach.