[Effect of the physician's and the patient's sex on the clinical interview].

OBJECTIVE: To analyse differences attributable to the sex of the doctor and of the patient in the activities and content of the clinic appointment in Primary Attention.
DESIGN: Analysis of interaction, in terms of activities and content, in 157 clinic appointments. SITE. General medical consultations in four Primary Attention Public Health Centres. PATIENTS: Those who used the health services on the day of the study. INTERVENTION: Tape recording of the appointments. MAIN MEASUREMENTS AND
RESULTS: The interviews were recorded. There were shown to be differences according to the sex of the doctor and of the patient in terms of the development and content of the interviews. The style of the woman doctor involved longer interviews with greater social content; in general sameness of sex (doctor and patient) led to greater mutual complementation in the interviews.
CONCLUSIONS: It has been shown that there are differences in the activities and content of the clinic appointments in Primary Attention which depend on the sex of the patient and doctor.