Differences in Practice Characteristics Between Male and Female Chiropractors in Switzerland

Objectives: A total of 75% of the chiropractic medicine students in the new program at the University of Zurich are women, which is in stark contrast to the traditional ratio of chiropractors in Switzerland, where 75% have been men. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare work behaviors between female and male chiropractors relating to workload, patient variety, and chiropractic treatment techniques. Methods: This is a secondary analysis of data from the Swiss Job Analysis 2009 study. The design was an online survey to all practicing chiropractors in Switzerland that had a 70% response rate of 183 returned surveys. Differences between male and female chiropractors in the various categorical responses involving practice workload, characteristics and patient types were compared using the. 2 test. Results: Male chiropractors had significantlymore years in practice (P = .0001), worked more hours per week (P = .0001), and saw more patients (P = .0001) and more newpatients (P = .004) per week compared with female chiropractors. Female chiropractors spent significantly more time with patients during follow-up visits (P = .017). There were no significant differences in treatment techniques used or the types of patients seen between the sexes. Conclusion: Because female chiropractors work fewer hours and see fewer patients per week, thismay lead to a shortage of chiropractors in the future as the sex ratio within the profession slowly changes in Switzerland.