COVER STORY Arielle Petropolis, DC; Anna D’Intino, DC; Erin Kempt, DC; Lauren MacIntosh, ND; Justine Landry, DC but this is something the majority of female practitioners will likely have to deal with at some point in their careers. Naturopathic medicine Naturopathic medicine is predomi-nantly a female profession, with 77% of those entering this profession being female. The reasoning for this may be explained by the patients that are seen. At times, NDs are the last resort for many patients. Many of them have been dealing with chronic conditions for many years and have lacked com-passion from medical professionals elsewhere, leading them to seek out alternative treatment options. Because naturopathic doctors are dealing with this patient population predominantly, they are expected to be very compas-sionate and empathetic, a trait more often thought to be attributed to fe-males. A study done by Toussaint and Webb demonstrated that females were more likely to show empathy when compared to males. This could be one major factor as to why females are more drawn to this profession. Being a female in a role as a primary care provider can also come with many challenges. One major challenge is people not taking you seriously. “Stu-dents in the program have had male patients stop them while trying to ex-plain their reasoning for a diagnosis and the patient interrupted them, telling them why this wasn’t right,” says Celeste Langdon, a 4th-year ND stu-dent. “Perhaps this was simply a coin-cidence that he was male, however, it only seems to happen with male pa-tients.” Having said this, it is rewarding when patients do listen to you and they start to heal. Being able to see patients heal and improve after struggling with a condition for multiple years is incred-ibly rewarding. Interpersonal and safety considerations Something that female and male chiro-practors must do in order to do their job, is put their hands on people. This is something that is a huge bonus of the job as we have the ability to help people using our hands, but unfortunately it is also something that can open the door to inappropriate comments or incidents. Sometimes this physical contact can make people do and say unprofessional things that many other health profes-sionals may not experience. On occa-sion with a new patient interaction, it is not out of the ordinary to have males in the middle of the health history ask the doctor if she has a boyfriend or is married. Although this could be a harmless comment, nonetheless it can fluster the doctor and can make them feel uncomfortable. Some doctors have also had occurrences where male pa-tients will also “compliment” the prac-titioner in the middle of the treatment, talking to them about how nice their arms are, or how much they like their outfit today. It can be flattering and executed in an appropriate way, but it can also come off as unprofessional and unappreciated. “One thing that I will do if the comments were inappropriate but harmless, is refer them to a male practitioner at another location. This way he is still getting care, but another female practitioner does not have to www.Cndoctor.ca 14 Chiropractic and Naturopathic Doctor September 2020 Photo: Kaye Hunkin
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