Is There Gender Bias in Critical Care?

[摘要] When patients enter the health care system, particularly when they are experiencing a life-threatening health problem, we implicitly assume that the care they receive is dictated by sound clinical judgment and objective, evidence-based practice parameters derived from reliable research. Nowhere in that scenario do we anticipate that clinical decision making will be influenced by patient attributes such as religion, nationality, or socioeconomic class or any other feature not relevant to their specific clinical situation. Especially in the United States, where citizens often express pride in our democratic form of government and equal opportunity for all, we may tend to take for granted that our health care system offers equal quality care to all. But what if it doesn’t? What if some aspects of health care services are tilted to favor one segment of the population while disfavoring another? What if that tilt left virtually half of the adult population—adult women—in the disfavored category? And what if evidence of the disfavoring of women in health care services was found not only within the United States, but internationally as well? Understanding this issue requires clarification of a few related terms.

[学科分类] 护理学

[关键词] Campylobacter;proljev;dob