The Resident Parent: Program Director Attitudes on Childbearing During Residency, Available Resources, and Opportunities for Improvement
Background:. Increased focus on wellness and diversity in surgical training has resulted in policy changes to support resident family planning. This study investigated program director (PD) knowledge and perceptions of accommodations for residents with or seeking to start families and their attitude...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wolters Kluwer
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Global Open |
| Online Access: | http://journals.lww.com/prsgo/fulltext/10.1097/GOX.0000000000006757 |
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| author | Kassandra Carrion, BA Shirley Chen, MD Theresa Webster, MD Catherine L. Ly, MD Heather J. Furnas, MD Dung H. Nguyen, MD, PharmD |
| author_facet | Kassandra Carrion, BA Shirley Chen, MD Theresa Webster, MD Catherine L. Ly, MD Heather J. Furnas, MD Dung H. Nguyen, MD, PharmD |
| author_sort | Kassandra Carrion, BA |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background:. Increased focus on wellness and diversity in surgical training has resulted in policy changes to support resident family planning. This study investigated program director (PD) knowledge and perceptions of accommodations for residents with or seeking to start families and their attitudes toward parenthood’s effect on resident performance.
Methods:. A survey was sent to 88 plastic and reconstructive surgery integrated residency PDs in the United States. Results were compared with a 2017 PD survey that surveyed similar topics.
Results:. A total of 34 PDs completed the survey (38.6%): 85.3% had children themselves, and 38.2% had children during residency. Most PDs were “unsure” about accommodations for nursing mothers during the in-service examination (64.7%) and written board examinations (76.5%), but 64.7% knew of accommodations for nursing mothers who were actively operating. Less than half (47.1%) were “unsure” about the financial support available for fertility treatment. PDs feel strongly that hospitals should provide childcare and allow 12 weeks of leave for childbearing residents. PDs believe their institution’s resident salary is sufficient to support 1 resident parent and 1 child. PDs from northeast programs disagree that resident unions will effectively advocate for reasonable parental leave and fertility support policies. Overall, PDs did not believe that trainee wellness was affected by having children during training regardless of childbearing status.
Conclusions:. Although PDs are supportive of residents becoming parents, discrepancies remain about available services that support trainee parents. Further studies regarding outcomes of different policies for residents who become parents are warranted given the variety of reported accommodations and attitudes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1ade8fca2f7b4904a59c8821e1424f7f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2169-7574 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Wolters Kluwer |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Global Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-1ade8fca2f7b4904a59c8821e1424f7f2025-08-20T03:48:22ZengWolters KluwerPlastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Global Open2169-75742025-05-01135e675710.1097/GOX.0000000000006757202505000-00016The Resident Parent: Program Director Attitudes on Childbearing During Residency, Available Resources, and Opportunities for ImprovementKassandra Carrion, BA0Shirley Chen, MD1Theresa Webster, MD2Catherine L. Ly, MD3Heather J. Furnas, MD4Dung H. Nguyen, MD, PharmD5From the * Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA† Department of Plastic Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN‡ Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY§ Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Columbia University, New York, NY.From the * Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CAFrom the * Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CABackground:. Increased focus on wellness and diversity in surgical training has resulted in policy changes to support resident family planning. This study investigated program director (PD) knowledge and perceptions of accommodations for residents with or seeking to start families and their attitudes toward parenthood’s effect on resident performance. Methods:. A survey was sent to 88 plastic and reconstructive surgery integrated residency PDs in the United States. Results were compared with a 2017 PD survey that surveyed similar topics. Results:. A total of 34 PDs completed the survey (38.6%): 85.3% had children themselves, and 38.2% had children during residency. Most PDs were “unsure” about accommodations for nursing mothers during the in-service examination (64.7%) and written board examinations (76.5%), but 64.7% knew of accommodations for nursing mothers who were actively operating. Less than half (47.1%) were “unsure” about the financial support available for fertility treatment. PDs feel strongly that hospitals should provide childcare and allow 12 weeks of leave for childbearing residents. PDs believe their institution’s resident salary is sufficient to support 1 resident parent and 1 child. PDs from northeast programs disagree that resident unions will effectively advocate for reasonable parental leave and fertility support policies. Overall, PDs did not believe that trainee wellness was affected by having children during training regardless of childbearing status. Conclusions:. Although PDs are supportive of residents becoming parents, discrepancies remain about available services that support trainee parents. Further studies regarding outcomes of different policies for residents who become parents are warranted given the variety of reported accommodations and attitudes.http://journals.lww.com/prsgo/fulltext/10.1097/GOX.0000000000006757 |
| spellingShingle | Kassandra Carrion, BA Shirley Chen, MD Theresa Webster, MD Catherine L. Ly, MD Heather J. Furnas, MD Dung H. Nguyen, MD, PharmD The Resident Parent: Program Director Attitudes on Childbearing During Residency, Available Resources, and Opportunities for Improvement Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Global Open |
| title | The Resident Parent: Program Director Attitudes on Childbearing During Residency, Available Resources, and Opportunities for Improvement |
| title_full | The Resident Parent: Program Director Attitudes on Childbearing During Residency, Available Resources, and Opportunities for Improvement |
| title_fullStr | The Resident Parent: Program Director Attitudes on Childbearing During Residency, Available Resources, and Opportunities for Improvement |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Resident Parent: Program Director Attitudes on Childbearing During Residency, Available Resources, and Opportunities for Improvement |
| title_short | The Resident Parent: Program Director Attitudes on Childbearing During Residency, Available Resources, and Opportunities for Improvement |
| title_sort | resident parent program director attitudes on childbearing during residency available resources and opportunities for improvement |
| url | http://journals.lww.com/prsgo/fulltext/10.1097/GOX.0000000000006757 |
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