Making residency more family friendly

With pregnancy and parenthood common during training, two recent studies examined the challenges residents encounter when becoming parents. Find out what the study discovered about childcare, breastfeeding and parental leave policies.   Parenthood is common Residency programs need more consistent parental leave, breastfeeding mothers need more spaces to express and store breast milk while at work, and parents need better access to onsite childcare, two recent studies looking at parenthood during training concluded. These are areas of concern because residency coincides with the prime reproductive years and women comprise one-half of medical school graduates. Parenthood is and will continue to be a frequent occurrence during training. Slightly more than one-half of the 190 radiation oncology trainees who responded to a survey had children, according to a study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology. Nearly 45 percent said they or their partner had a pregnancy during residency. Similarly, general surgery residents commonly take parental leave. In a study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 41 percent of the 66 general surgery residency program directors who responded to a survey said at least once a year they have a resident who takes maternity or paternity leave. Breastfeeding and childcare concerns New mothers told researchers they worried about being able to breastfeed when they went back to work. Among radiation oncology ...
Source: AMA Wire - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Source Type: news