A new study by Hadassah researchers highlights how gender bias in Israeli and American ERs impacts treatment.
“Women are viewed as exaggerating or hysterical and men are viewed as more stoic when they complain of pain,” Dr. Alex Gileles-Hillel, a physician-scientist at the Hadassah Medical Organization, told Nature.
The study was published in the peer-reviewed Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Gileles-Hillel and his colleagues analyzed more than 20,000 discharge notes of patients who had come in with “non-specific” pain complaints — those without a clear underlying cause — such as headaches.
The analysis found that women were 10 percent less likely than men to have a recorded pain score (a number from one to 10) that helps to inform physicians about the severity of pain. After the initial assessment, women waited an average of 30 minutes longer than men to see a physician and were less likely than men to receive pain medication. This trend was consistent regardless of the gender of the nurse or doctor.
Read the full story in Nature.
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