Gender differences in time spent during direct observation of doctor-patient encounters.

Background: Despite increasing recognition of women's health needs, little is known about how primary care physicians spend time with women. Therefore, we examined differences in time use and preventive service delivery during outpatient visits by male and female patients.

Methods: As part of a multimethod study of 138 family physicians, 3384 outpatient visits by adults were directly observed, medical records were reviewed, and patient surveys were performed.