| Statement of the problem. The effectiveness of the clinician in the physician-patient relationship is significantly influenced by the practitioners clinical interviewing skills. However, the characteristics of a superior interviewer remain to be completely described and understood. Although it has been suggested that men and women physicians might differ in their interviewing skills, biological sex alone has not been found to explain differences among individuals in most studies. An alternate explanation may be found in the sex-role orientation of the physician.;Procedures and methods. A descriptive and quasi-experimental research design was used to investigate the relationship between sex-role orientation and medical interviewing skills. This methodology allowed analysis of several variables which might affect interviewing skills, including the medical students' age, gender, medical specialty preference, and sex-role type, and the strength of the relationship between these variables.;The study sample was comprised of 117 second year students at an accredited medical school in the midwest United States who were enrolled in the Introduction to Clinical Medicine course. The medical students completed a demographic questionnaire and the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and performed physical examinations on four standardized patients. Following each examination, the patient completed the American Board of Internal Medicine Patient Perception Scale.;Results. A statistically significant difference emerged between sex-role types based on the biological sex of the medical student. No statistically significant difference appeared between age group and sex-role type, ethnicity and sex-role type, or medical specialty preference and sex-role type. The variables of age, gender, ethnicity, medical specialty preference, and sex-role type were not found to be statistically significant with respect to clinical performance.;Conclusions. The characteristics of a superior interviewer remain to be completely described and understood. Given the central role of the medical interview in the physician-patient relationship, it will be important to establish what the factors are that might assist in the training of medical students to help improve interviewing skills within the context of enhancing this relationship. |
