In reply: gender differences among medical students learning tracheal intubation

Background: Pain is one of the most common reasons for patients to seek medical attention and it causes considerable human suffering. Pain is a complex perception that differs enormously among individual patients. Gender plays an important role in how pain is experienced, coped with and treated. Even young healthy individuals often differ in how they perceive and cope with pain. This study was done to investigate gender differences in response to experimental pain among medical students from a western state in India. Methods: A total of 150 medical students (86 males and 64 females) participated in this interventional study. The Cold Pressor Test was used to exert experimental pain. To study the response, cardiovascular measures (radial pulse, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure) and pain sensitivity parameters (pain threshold, pain tolerance and pain rating) were assessed. Results: No significant difference was found in cardiovascular response to experimental pain between both the genders (p>0.05). Pain threshold and pain tolerance were found to be significantly higher in males whereas pain rating was found to be significantly higher in females (p<0.01). Pulse reactivity showed a negative relationship with pain threshold and pain tolerance whereas a positive relationship with pain rating, however no statistically significant relation was found between these measures. Conclusion: Females display greater pain sensitivity than males. Different pain perception might account for gender difference in pulse reactivity.

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Psychiatry as a specialization: influential factors and gender differences among medical students in a low- to middle-income country

Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/ipm.2019.38 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 37 (2) ◽

pp. 111-117 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

V. I. O. Agyapong ◽

R. Owusu-Antwi ◽

A. Ritchie ◽

G. Agyapong-Opoku ◽

H. Khinda ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Medical Students ◽

Medical Training ◽

Influential Factors ◽

Career Interest ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Middle Income ◽

Training Institutions ◽

And Gender ◽

Policies And Programs

AbstractObjectivesTo assess the perception of Ghanaian medical students about factors influencing their career interest in psychiatry and to explore gender differences in these perceptions.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional quantitative survey of 5th and 6th year medical students in four public medical schools in Ghana. Data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS version 20.ResultsResponses were obtained from 545 medical students (response rate of 52%). Significantly, more male medical students expressed that stigma is an important consideration for them to choose or not to choose a career in psychiatry compared to their female counterparts (42.7% v. 29.7%, respectively). Over two-thirds of the medical students perceived that psychiatrists were at risk of being attacked by their patients, with just a little over a third expressing that risk was an important consideration for them to choose a career in psychiatry. There were no gender differences regarding perceptions about risk. Around 3 to 4 out of 10 medical students will consider careers in psychiatry if offered various incentives with no gender differences in responses provided.ConclusionOur study presents important and novel findings in the Ghanaian context, which can assist health policy planners and medical training institutions in Ghana to formulate policies and programs that will increase the number of psychiatry residents and thereby increase the psychiatrist-to-patient ratio in Ghana.

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