D. S. Itum1, S. C. Oltmann1, M. A. Choti1, H. G. Piper1 1University Of Texas Southwestern Medical Center,Department Of Surgery,Dallas, TX, USA
Introduction: Parent-child bonding during the earliest months of life provides significant health benefits to both child and parent. This frequently requires a dedicated parental leave with time away from full-time employment. Recently, two prominent surgical professional organizations (American College of Surgeons and Association of Women Surgeons) have endorsed formal parental leave policies. However, it is unclear whether the majority of surgeons at academic centers have access to formal parental leave. Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is an unpaid leave, and does not address additional job responsibilities that must be made up after returning to work, nor the financial burden of unpaid leave. It is unclear if a paid, protected parental leave is offered across academic medical centers. The aim of this project was to investigate the current parental leave policies at the top 50 academic medical centers in the United States to determine trends and outliers among institutions.
Methods: The 2015 US World News report identified the top 50 academic medical centers within the United States. Each institutional website was reviewed to determine the most current, publically available human resource policies with respect to parental leave. “Paid leave” was defined as a protected, paid leave offered by an institution without the mandated use of sick, vacation, or other personal time off.
Results: Of the 50 programs, 30 (60%) are private and 20 (40%) are public. 13 (26%) institutions are located in the Northeast, 13 (26%) in the South, 10 (20%) in the Midwest and 14 (28%) in the West. 9 (18%) are located within states with a state-mandated paid parental leave policy. Thirty-five medical centers (70%) have a paid institutional parental leave. Offering of a paid parental leave at private versus public institutions (73% vs. 65%, p= .55), or based on region (Northeast = 77%; South = 69%; Midwest = 50%; West = 79%; p=.44) did not differ. Availability of paid institutional parental leave differed based on medical center ranking (top third = 93.8%; middle third = 47.1%; bottom third = 70.6%; p=0.01).
Paid leave was further stratified by duration (none vs. £ 6 weeks vs. > 6 weeks). Private institutions were more likely to offer longer paid leaves (> 6 weeks) than public institutions (57% vs. 20%; p=0.02). No difference in duration of paid leave was noted based on region (p=0.81).
Conclusion: One third of top academic centers do not offer a paid parental leave policy. Private institutions offer longer leaves compared to public academic centers. Much work is still needed to ensure optimal access to paid parental leave after child birth and/or adoption. As surgical training often delays child rearing, it is critical that surgeons are at the forefront of supporting the further advancement of this benefit.