V. Shifflette1, S. Cheek1, M. Lorenzo1, J. D. Amos1, M. Allo2, E. Dunn1 1Methodist Hospital,General Surgery,Dallas, TX, USA 2Santa Clara Valley Medical Center,General Surgery,San Jose, CA, USA
Introduction: Surgery continues to be an intense, time-consuming residency. Many medical students decide against surgery as a profession due to the long work hours and family strain. The pregnant female surgical resident has an added stress factor compared to her male counterpart. With the numbers of female surgical residents increasing, we wanted to survey the perceived impact that pregnancy has on surgical programs, and on the pregnant female resident.
Methods: We distributed an electronic, on-line 26-question survey to 32 general surgery programs in the southwestern region. The survey link was emailed to the program directors and coordinators. Each program was also contacted by telephone. We asked each program to distribute our survey to the female surgical residents who have been pregnant during residency in the last 5 years. Each program was re-contacted six weeks after the initial contact. Most questions were in a 5-point Likert scale format. The responses were collected and analyzed using the Survey Monkey website.
Results: The surveys were sent to 32 general surgery programs and 26 programs responded (81%). Each program was asked for the total number of possible responses from female residents that met our criteria (60 female residents). Seven of the programs (27%) stated that they have had zero residents pregnant. We had 22 residents respond (37%). Over half of the residents (55%) were pregnant during their 2nd or 3rd year of residency, with only 18% pregnant during a research year. The majority of the residents missed elective rotations. Ninety percent of the program directors were accommodating. Most of the faculty were very understanding (55%) and continued to educate (81%). However, 24% of the residents stated that the faculty actually operated with them less. Half of the residents felt that their medical knowledge and technical skills fell behind that of their fellow residents. Thirty-one percent had a lower ABSITE score. Ninety percent of the residents were out 4 weeks or more of maternity leave. Most of the residents (95%) stated that they would do this again during residency given the opportunity, but many of the residents felt that returning back to work with a child at home was the most difficult part.
Conclusion: As the female influence in medicine increases, pregnancy and the length of maternity leave may need to be better addressed by the American Board of Surgery and residency programs. Our study shows that the programs surveyed were accommodating to the female surgical resident. Nevertheless, despite adequate support from their program and an overall positive experience, many residents indicated that they had a decline in their education and performance.