Have gender preferences and communication patterns changed?

This chapter shows that despite their preferences, many patients do not have a female general practitioner (GP). Preferences for female GPs are not fulfilled for one-third of female and two-thirds of male patients. The reason is that the higher number of female medical students has not led to enough practising female GPs yet. Those patients that have a preference for a female GP are more often female and younger. This chapter addresses the following questions: have patients' preferences for GPs' gender changed over time, are their preferences fulfilled and which factors influence the patients' preferences? Have male and female GPs' communication patterns with male and female patients changed over time? Studies into differences in communication between cross-gender and same-gender-dyads have shown that in the female/female consultation the communication pattern differs from the other gender-dyads. The communication of male and female GPs with their male and female patients (the four gender-dyads) has changed since the late 1980s.