In Part 2 of this conversation, the host, Amanda Quijano, discusses with Allie - a surgeon and mother of three - how physician-mothers’ experiences during residency and fellowship inspired the study “Pregnancy and Medical Training: A Survey of Physician Moms and Their Experiences During Residency and Fellowship.”
Allie developed interest in gathering more data on this topic after her involvement with an ACGME/ABMS task force updating parental leave standards. Using the closed Facebook group “Physician Moms Group” to survey physicians who had children during training, the study focused on breastfeeding, postpartum depression, maternal-fetal complications, long work hours, and procedural training.
Key findings included that 89% of respondents were required to work until delivery, 83% took overnight call up until delivery, and 53% felt that their job demands compromised their health or their unborn child’s safety.
In addition to the published data, Allie shares stories that are submitted to her during the study, describing working with preeclampsia, preterm labor and NICU stays, and returning to work 10 days postpartum.
This conversation also highlights the findings around postpartum mental health and the workforce implications of a system that is currently so unsupportive of physician mothers, including that 20% of respondents considering quitting medicine due to poor support policies, 30% did not recommend medicine as a career to female students, and 60% associated their experience of postpartum depression with their short leave and unsupportive policies alongside calls for better support, lactation access, and self-advocacy.