Mitigating the gender gap: How “doctor” badges affect physician identity

ABSTRACT

Learning Objectives: To elucidate the frequency of physician misidentification in the ED and evaluate whether a low-cost intervention can help reduce rates and improve overall physician wellness using an observational study. Background: Multiple studies have shown that only a small fraction of patients are able to identify their physician. Physician misidentification impacts patient care, patient satisfaction, and physician wellbeing. Objectives: Our study aims to evaluate whether the incorporation of “DOCTOR” badges can improve identification and the overall wellness of EM physicians. We hypothesize that the rate of EM physician misidentification would be more frequent among female physicians and that badges can be a low-cost tool to rectify this problem. Methods: A voluntary anonymized survey was distributed to 83 EM residents and 28 EM Attendings working in a large urban academic center. All physicians were given a badge to wear and then were re-surveyed. Descriptive data are presented as means with standard deviation, percentages, and 95% confidence intervals. Mean rate of misidentification were compared pre and post “DOCTOR” badges using a Student's t-test. Results: Physician response rates and demographics are given in Table 1. 97% of female EM physicians are misidentified compared to 43% of male EM physicians 95% CI [37,66], p<0.0001. After wearing the badges, there was a decrease in misidentification of female EM physicians to 81.6%, p=0.03 and 73.7% of female physicians reported feeling more valued vs 44.9% male physician 95% CI [7.9,46], p=0.007. Similarly, 64.3% EM physicians felt less frustration with misclassification, 81.6% female physicians vs. 51% male physicians, 95% CI [10.5,47], p=0.0033. Conclusions: Female EM physicians are disproportionately misidentified by patients and their families and are more likely to feel undervalued. We found that the use of “DOCTOR” badges decreased misidentification and improved wellness. Therefore, having EM physicians wear a “DOCTOR” badge may be an effective long-term solution. Reported efficacy may have been even higher as our study was partially limited by the COVID-19 pandemic when badges became obscured by PPE.