A recent survey in the UK asked patients to rate perceptions of medical expertise. The results were, to me at least, a little surprising:
A study of hundreds of patients, which asked them to rate doctors on a scale of one to five for perceived expertise, put women doctors – both white and Asian – first in almost all categories, while white, male doctors over the age of 50 languished near the bottom.
Female doctors under the age of 35 were judged to have a preferable personal manner, superior technical skills and superior powers of description.
My doctor is mid-40s, male and Asian. I guess that ranks him somewhere in the middle. It’s peculiar that people would rate younger people as preferable. I think I want a doctor who’s seen, you know, 500 skin melanomas, not 20.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
I think the rationale is that the younger doctors might be more up-to-date on the latest treatments and technologies, and perhaps more open-minded about alternative therapies.
Of course, leeches are coming back into style as a treatment method, so maybe people shouldn’t write off the older doctors just yet.
I’m not totally surprised, actually. Younger doctors benefit from modern advances in Bedside Manner 101; they’re now trained in patient interaction, in communication skills, and their education benefits from the many studies on grief, loss, and trauma that have been done in the past 20 years.
Their personalities also benefit from social changes like a more positive view towards mental illness and sexuality, and they tend to lack the “I’m The Doctor” mentality that makes many people afraid to question their older GP’s diagnoses or expertise. If people aren’t afraid to ask questions, then they can have their questions answered – and they feel better about the experience as a result.
My Nana’s doctor died a few years ago. He was only a few years younger than she was, and practiced right up til the day he died. I think he was 84 when he died.
A reasonably good doctor for seniors, as he could relate to them pretty well. But pretty far out of date on a lot of medical advances in the last 10-20 years. Which is a lot.
My doctor is in her early 30s, and smoking hot. I like her. 🙂