A surgeon, a doctor and a baby – combining parenthood with a medical career

Abstract

Double-physician couples being parents have been shown to face greater difficulties in combining their private and professional lives when compared to other couples. In the present study, we aimed to analyze how double-physician couples manage to arrange their roles in their private and professional lives and how compatible their individual idea of being a mother or a father is with their career as a physician. Fifteen couples being parents and consisting of either two surgeons or a surgeon and a nonsurgeon were asked to participate in a survey to determine the average maternity or paternity leave, the reduction of hours worked per week after the birth of a child, and the need for professional childcare and additional support in childcare from relatives or babysitters per week. Furthermore, the couples were asked to mark on a six-item Likert scale how compatible their professional life is with their idea of being parents. The average maternity or paternity leave was 13 ± 2 months per child and the mean reduction of hours worked per week was 30 ± 12%. The couples made use of professional childcare for 41 ± 6 h/week on average and needed additional support in childcare from relatives or babysitters for 5 ± 3 h/week. On the Likert scale from “completely incompatible (0)” to “perfectly compatible (5)”, the mean compatibility of professional and private lives was rated 2.5 ± 1.1. Becoming parents significantly influences the professional and private lives of double-physician couples. The relatively low compatibility of double-physician couples’ private and professional lives might lead to relevant work-home conflicts. Such conflicts have been proven to be associated with surgeons not recommending surgery as a career. Therefore, efforts should be made to improve the compatibility of parenthood and a medical career.

Association of Women Surgeons’ Comprehensive Initiative for Healthy Surgical Families During Residency and Fellowship Training

“…While it is often stated that it takes a village to raise children, surgical training often takes parents far afield from their village, leaving a substantial gap that must then be filled with an array of primary and backup childcare options. 24 This need engenders major psychological and financial stressors. Inadequate access to reliable child-care has been repeatedly demonstrated to be a barrier to both pursuit of and success in surgical careers.…”

Gender, flexibility and workforce in the NHS: A qualitative study

“…Attending to the importance of flexibility in medical careers allows a sensitivity to examine the ways in which the varying degrees of flexibility people could or could not afford had serious impact on their career and life in general. While, as we demonstrated, there is no doubt that gender was one of the most important defining characteristics in flexibility, framing challenges around medical workforce as flexibility issue allows us to challenge the existing somewhat limited framing of the work‐life balance agenda as female doctors' issues 38,39 and/or parenting issues 40–42 …”

“…While, as we demonstrated, there is no doubt that gender was one of the most important defining characteristics in flexibility, framing challenges around medical workforce as flexibility issue allows us to challenge the existing somewhat limited framing of the work-life balance agenda as female doctors' issues 38,39 and/or parenting issues. [40][41][42] Further research should ensure it plays attention to these intersectional issues further. In particular, using intersectionality as a theoretical lens will enable consideration of the accumulation of these factors may be experienced in relation to dominant power structures, with a specific focus on acknowledging the importance of social dynamics.…”