PrepTest 113, Section 3, Question 3
Announcement for a television program: Are female physicians(26 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(11 more words not shown)
- APhysicians are in(10 more words not shown)
- BThere still are(22 more words not shown)
- CThose who are(13 more words not shown)
- DSince medical research(15 more words not shown)
- EWomen as patients(22 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why not ask the patients?
The program wants to know which physicians are more sensitive to women patients' needs. Asking doctors what they think may tell us about the doctors' self-assessments or impressions of colleagues. That isn't necessarily the best way to learn how patients are being treated.
Imagine a physician saying, 'I'm very attentive,' while patients report that their concerns were brushed aside. We don't know that this mismatch occurs here. It shows why a favorable description from a doctor shouldn't automatically settle a question about the patient's experience.
What we’re looking for
We're asked for a fact identifying a flaw in the plan. My prediction is that the program is asking people who are less well placed to answer than the patients themselves. We don't have to decide whether male or female physicians actually do better to question how the show plans to find out.
Working the answers
- A
This concerns describing other physicians' treatment styles. The announcement doesn't specify that every answer must be a report about a colleague; the doctors could discuss their own practices or views. Their reluctance to describe other doctors therefore doesn't clearly defeat the proposed discussion.
I can see a possible difficulty here, but it depends on details of the interview we haven't been given. C identifies a more direct problem with whom the show is consulting.
- B
A patient's limited choice of physician doesn't settle how sensitively the available physicians treat patients. Even if women physicians are harder to find, the program could still investigate their treatment of women patients and compare it with men's. Availability and sensitivity are different questions.
- CCorrect
The patients are better able to answer the question the program wants to settle. They experience the treatment whose sensitivity is being compared. Consulting physicians instead leaves the program relying on a less suitable group.
This doesn't require every doctor to be dishonest or every patient to be an infallible judge. It identifies a weakness in the plan: the people best placed to report on the relevant experience aren't the ones being asked.
- D
Whether research results apply well to women is a question about the evidence available for medical care. It doesn't establish a problem with interviewing physicians about sensitivity, or tell us which sex treats women more sensitively. The research issue doesn't directly address this program's proposed method.
- E
Patients taking a more active role could change their medical interactions, but E gives no comparison between male and female physicians. Nor does it explain why the chosen interview group cannot answer the program's question well. It describes a development in patient behavior without identifying the flaw in the plan.
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