Fewer than half of the journals studied had parity between the percentages of women members of editorial boards and the percentages of women physicians in the specialties. Parity should be maintained to accurately reflect the numbers of women physicians in these fields.

The great majority of residents appear to have decided whether or not to pursue a research career by the time they reached residency, and few of those with less than the highest research interest were enrolled in research tracks. Efforts to increase recruitment into research should center on identifying early developmental influences, eliminating barriers specific to women, and ensuring adequate funding to provide secure careers for talented potential researchers.

This retrospective study of 217 medical students (at one school over an eight-year period) who had sought psychiatric consultation and treatment was designed to verify earlier findings about medical students' psychiatric impairment and to investigate other, more recently highlighted issues. The authors hypothesized that (1) more of the women would be seen for psychiatric consultation; (2) overall, the problems and diagnoses of the students would differ according to gender and academic class; (3) the women would show more evidence of role strain; (4) the women would remain in treatment longer; and (5) for all students, the average length of treatment would be relatively brief. The results of this study indicate that more of the women requested psychiatric consultation; that differences along gender lines regarding chief complaints and psychiatric diagnoses were not significant; and that the women revealed more direct and subtle evidence of role strain but did not remain in treatment longer than the men. The date are discussed in terms of the development and implementation of educational programs that attempt to prevent some of the psychiatric impairments of physicians.

Female psychiatrists significantly differ from other female physicians with regard to a number of personal and professional dimensions.

Some patients have behaviors that make interactions unpleasant, sometimes contributing to suboptimal outcomes and physician burnout. Understanding common difficult personality types can help doctors plan effective strategies for dealing with each, resulting in more effective communication, less stress, and better health outcomes.