The objective of our study is to determine Lebanese women’s priorities and preferences when selecting an obstetrician and gynecologist, and to highlight associations, if any, between these preferences and the women’s socio-demographic background.

This work may have an important impact on the future structure of the medical workforce, service delivery, and postgraduate training in obstetrics and gynecology in our Lebanese community. Results will help potential medical students who are interested in obstetrics and gynecology to understand the factors that drive the patients’ choice for their physician, consequently finding out if they will fit for such a profession. Data will be used by the program directors as well to select the suitable candidates for their residency program. Moreover, results might benefit current practitioners to alter some variables to better satisfy the Lebanese market needs. Last but not least, results will be highlighted by the human resources managers at our Lebanese hospitals while recruiting obstetricians and/or gynecologists, taking into consideration the socio-demographic variables of the clientele they are serving.

In order to answer the research questions, quantitative data will be collected from administering a self-completion questionnaire created on “LimeSurvey” and sent via email to 500 random female AUB staff members. . The first part of the questionnaire will assess the socio-demographic variables of the respondents including age, marital status, religion, level of education, place of birth, personal monthly income and frequency of her visits to the obstetrician and gynecologist. The second part will assess the characteristics used to select an obstetrician/gynecologist, where thirty items will be evaluated. They include, among others, women’s preference for the gender of her obstetrician/gynecologist, religion, postgraduate qualification, hospital affiliation, surgical skills, university affiliation, availability of the physician (time to get an appointment and waiting time in the office), board certificate, esthetic appearance, media appearance, sub-specialty, age, recommendation by close people, professionalism, courtesy, comprehension and communication (refer to the questionnaire). Participants will be asked to rate the importance of each characteristic using a five-point Likert scale (1: not important, 2: slightly important, 3: moderately important, 4: very important, and 5: extremely important). The questionnaire’s answers will be kept anonymous and confidential.

In order to answer the research questions, quantitative data will be collected from administering a self-completion questionnaire created on “LimeSurvey” and sent via email to 500 random female AUB staff members. . The first part of the questionnaire will assess the socio-demographic variables of the respondents including age, marital status, religion, level of education, place of birth, personal monthly income and frequency of her visits to the obstetrician and gynecologist. The second part will assess the characteristics used to select an obstetrician/gynecologist, where thirty items will be evaluated. They include, among others, women’s preference for the gender of her obstetrician/gynecologist, religion, postgraduate qualification, hospital affiliation, surgical skills, university affiliation, availability of the physician (time to get an appointment and waiting time in the office), board certificate, esthetic appearance, media appearance, sub-specialty, age, recommendation by close people, professionalism, courtesy, comprehension and communication (refer to the questionnaire). Participants will be asked to rate the importance of each characteristic using a five-point Likert scale (1: not important, 2: slightly important, 3: moderately important, 4: very important, and 5: extremely important). The questionnaire’s answers will be kept anonymous and confidential.