Who is a Urologist?
A Urologist is a doctor specialised in diagnosing and treating urinary and reproductive diseases. There are both male and female urologists.
The important organs catered for by Urologists include the kidneys, bladder, ureters (thin muscles that carry urine into your bladder), urethra (the tube that drains urine out of your bladder), testes and prostate. Urologists also handle issues like kidney stones, male infertility, and the big C- cancer.
As much a generalist doctor can prescribe medications for some slight reproductive or urinary discomfort, you will need the attention of a specialised and certified Urologist if you experience any of the following:
- Blood in the urine
- Loss of bladder control
- Pain when you urinate
- Pain in the lower back, stomach or groin (kidney stones)
- Sexual dysfunction
- Frequent need to urinate, especially at night or difficulty in urinating (enlarged prostate).
Now back to our question, if you have a urinary or reproductive issue and there is only a urologist of the opposite gender, will you be unbothered about the gender?
A 2018 report by National Library of Medicine noted that “The preference of gender-specific physician is on the increase as patients are more comfortable with the same gender as them.
The study also highlighted that 42.8 percent of male patients preferred a male urologist, 53.8 percent had no preference, and only 3.4 percent preferred a female urologist.
Some of the respondents noted that “they are more comfortable with same-gender urologists because the physicians are quite familiar with the affected organs and might have experienced same issues’’.
The preference was also significantly associated with a man’s religious status, ethnicity, and marital status.
It is important to note that this does not suggest that female urologists are not capable of administering treatment (they might even be better), men just probably feel more comfortable discussing what they consider as ‘men’s talk’ to their male doctors without holding back or feeling awkward.
It may also interest you to know that majority of women respondents also noted that they would prefer a female urologist to a male. So, it is safe to say most people would prefer a urologist of same gender.
What do you think?
Do you prefer a urologist of same gender, or you are only bothered about competence?
Please share your thoughts with us.
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