Physician-patient gender congruence and the physical examination.

To assess the hypothesis that breast, genitourinary (GU), and rectal examinations are performed more frequently when the physician and patient are of the same gender, the authors reviewed the records of 529 patients in a housestaff medical clinic. They found no significant difference between gender-congruent and gender-incongruent patient encounters in the rates of these examinations. However, higher rates of performance by primary care housestaff compared with those of internal medicine housestaff were noted in all categories. The authors conclude that performances of breast, GU, and rectal examinations were not related to gender congruence but may have been associated with the houseofficers' training program.