Recent research paper published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, a study approved by the Harvard Medical School Institutional Review Board, says that female physicians tend to provide higher-quality medical care than males.
According to the research, if male physicians were as adept as females, some 32,000 fewer Americans would die every year, among Medicare patients alone.
"Elderly hospitalized patients treated by female internists have lower mortality and readmissions compared with those cared for by male internists. These findings suggest that the differences in practice patterns between male and female physicians, as suggested in previous studies, may have important clinical implications for patient outcomes," the journal stated.
However, despite the fact and evidences proving female physicians may provide higher quality care, some also argued that career interruptions may also compromise the quality provided by female physicians that is why higher salaries among male physicians are reported to be justifiable.
"There's a lot of evidence out there that male and female physicians practice medicine a little bit differently," said Harvard's Dr. Ashish Jha, who oversaw the study.
"The data out there says that women physicians tend to be a little bit better at sticking to the evidence and doing the things that we know work better," Jha told NBC News.
