Pilot Survey of Female Anesthesiologists’ Childbearing and Parental Leave Experiences

Pearson, Amy C.S.; Dodd, Sarah E; Kraus, Molly B; Ligda, Kristin M Ondecko; Hertzberg, Linda B.; Patel, Perene V; Chandrabose, Rekha K.

doi:10.1213/ane.0000000000003802

Cited by 31 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Various studies have examined parental leave policies in procedural residencies, including anesthesiology [ 10 ], general surgery [ 11 ], orthopedic surgery [ 12 ], and radiation oncology [ 13 ], among others, but there have been no studies focused on pediatric or adult medicine, particularly the subspecialties that involve the longest amount of training: hematology/oncology, cardiology, gastroenterology, and pulmonology/critical care. Our goal was to investigate the state of parental leave policies for such programs and to determine their accessibility to trainees, how consistent they were across programs, and how trainees’ education was impacted.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fellowship program directors and trainees across the United States find parental leave policies to be inconsistent, inaccessible, and inadequate

et al. 2021

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Introduction Determine the consistency, accessibility, and adequacy of parental leave policies for adult and pediatric medicine fellowship programs. Methods We administered a 40-question survey to fellowship program directors (PDs) and trainees in adult and pediatric cardiology, hematology/oncology, gastroenterology, and pulmonology/critical care fellowship programs in the United States. We used Chi-square tests to compare proportions for categorical variables and t-tests to compare means for continuous variables. Results A total of 190 PDs from 500 programs (38.0%) and 236 trainees from 142 programs (28.4%) responded. Most respondents did not believe that parental leave policies were accessible publicly (322/426; 75.6%), on password-protected intranet (343/426; 80.5%), or upon request (240/426; 56.3%). The PDs and trainees broadly felt that parental leave for fellows should be 5–10 weeks (156/426; 36.6%) or 11–15 weeks (165/426; 38.7%). A majority of PDs felt that there was no increased burden upon other fellows (122/190; 64.2%) or change in overall well-being (110/190; 57.9%). When asked about the biggest barrier to parental leave support, most PDs noted time constrains of fellowship (101/190; 53.1%) and the limited number of fellows (43/190; 22.6%). Trainees similarly selected the time constraints of training (88/236; 37.3%), but nearly one-fifth chose the culture in medicine (44/236; 18.6%). There were no statistically significant differences in answers based on the respondents’ sex, specialty, or subspecialty. Discussion Parental leave policies are broadly in place, but did not feel these were readily accessible, standardized, or of optimum length. PDs and trainees noted several barriers that undermine support for better parental leave policies, including time constraints of fellowship, the limited number of fellows for coverage, and workplace culture. Standardization of parental leave policies is advisable to allow trainees to pursue fellowship training and care for their newborns without undermining their educational experiences.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fellowship program directors and trainees across the United States find parental leave policies to be inconsistent, inaccessible, and inadequate

et al. 2021

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“…Practicing physicians in surgery, emergency medicine, and anesthesia have reported receiving limited (and in some cases no) paid coverage for parental leave and often report dissatisfaction with current coverage policies. 10 – 13 Studies specific to medical residents have found a lack of uniform policies regarding parental leave with regard to funding and also clinical coverage for new parents across several specialty training programs including surgery, OB–GYN, family medicine, and dermatology. 14 – 17 Trainees often report a perception of stigma and a lack of support for prospective and new parents, both by other trainees and by faculty.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental health in fellowship trainees: Fellows’ satisfaction with current policies and interest in innovation

Marshall

Dines

Hendrickson

et al. 2020

Womens Health (Lond Engl)

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Background: Parenthood during medical training is common and impacts trainee well-being. However, current graduate medical education parental health policies are often limited in scope. We explored current fellowship trainees’ knowledge of/satisfaction with current policies as well as interest in potential changes/additions to existing policies. Methods: Fellowship program directors/coordinators at a three-site academic institution were surveyed and information was collected from 2015 to 2019 regarding fellow demographics and parental health policies. We distributed an electronic survey to fellows containing Likert-type-scale questions rating knowledge/level of satisfaction with current parental health policies and interest in potential additions/modifications to current policies. Results: Thirty-five of 47 (74%) fellowship programs responded. An average of 11% of female fellows and 15% of male fellows took parental leave during the study period. Three (9%) of the programs had at least one additional parental health policy beyond institutional graduate medical education policies. In the fellow survey, 175 of 609 fellows responded (28.7%), of which 84 (48.6%) were female. Although 89.1% agreed/strongly agreed that parental health is an important part of health and well-being for fellows, only 32% were satisfied/very satisfied with current policies (no significant sex-related differences). Fellows reported the following potential interventions as important/very important: 79.2% increased (paid) maternity leave (72.7% male, 86.7% female, p = 0.02), 78% increased (paid) paternity leave (76.4% male, 81.9% female, p = 0.37), 72.3% part-time return to work (60.2% male, 84.3% female, p = 0.0005), 63% coverage for workup/management of infertility (52.3% male, 74.7% female, p = 0.002), and 79.9% on-site day care (70.7% male, 89.2% female, p = 0.003). Conclusions: Parental health includes multiple domains, not all of which are covered by current policies. Fellows feel that parental health is an important part of overall health and well-being, but most are not satisfied with current policies. Expanded access to parental leave and new policies (part-time return to work, infertility management, and on-site day care) are opportunities for innovation.

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“…There was considerable heterogeneity in the study populations, survey instruments used and outcomes reported. Most studies included only residents (n=22; 43.1%) 18-40 but 10 included a combination of faculty statuses (19.6%) [41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51] (table 2). Most studies combined participants from different practice disciplines (n=28; 54.9%), 20 -22 27 32 35 36 39 41 42 44 45 50 -66 while the remaining studies reported on participants from a single discipline.…”

Section: Characteristics Of Articles Surveys and Interviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…58 From these studies, examples of harassment and discrimination included receiving a low evaluation referencing the resident’s need to pump, 58 being told that pumping at work indicated that she was less dedicated to her job, 58 and being restricted from pumping during an examination. 43 …”

Section: Characteristics Of Articlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experiences of breast feeding at work for physicians, residents and medical students: a scoping review

et al. 2020

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ObjectiveTo review and summarise the available literature regarding breastfeeding experiences of medical students, residents and physicians.Eligibility criteriaArticles of any design, including non-peer reviewed data that examine the experiences of breast feeding of medical students, residents and staff physicians.Information sourcesOvid MEDLINE(R) and Epub Ahead of Print, In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations and Daily, Ovid EMBASE, Scopus and Web of Science.Risk of biasAll peer-reviewed studies underwent risk-of-bias assessment using relevant tools, depending on the study design.Included studiesWe included 71 citations; 51 surveys, 3 narrative descriptions, 9 editorials or letters to the editor, and 3 reviews.Synthesis of resultsIncluded articles were heterogeneous with respect to their study design, target population and outcomes reported. Most articles had a high risk of bias. Only five articles reported the impact of an intervention.Description of effectDespite heterogeneity, the majority of articles described important barriers to breast feeding for physicians, residents and medical students. These barriers were similar across studies, and included inadequate and inaccessible space, time constraints and inflexible scheduling, and lack of colleague support. The consequences of these barriers included low milk supply and early discontinuation of breast feeding.Strengths and limitations of evidenceDue to the observed heterogeneity of articles identified in this review, we are unable to assess trends in barriers or duration of breastfeeding over time.InterpretationInterventions to overcome systemic and cultural barriers to breast feeding are needed to meet legal obligations of workplaces for physicians and trainees. These interventions should be formally evaluated using implementation science or quality improvement methods.

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Pilot Survey of Female Anesthesiologists’ Childbearing and Parental Leave Experiences

Cited by 31 publications

References 5 publications

Fellowship program directors and trainees across the United States find parental leave policies to be inconsistent, inaccessible, and inadequate

Fellowship program directors and trainees across the United States find parental leave policies to be inconsistent, inaccessible, and inadequate

Parental health in fellowship trainees: Fellows’ satisfaction with current policies and interest in innovation

Experiences of breast feeding at work for physicians, residents and medical students: a scoping review

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