A Survey of Pregnancy and Parenthood among Physician Trainees: How Do Nephrology Fellowships Compare?

Background: National policies outlining parental leave for physician trainees are inconsistent. We recently demonstrated that most US nephrology fellows are unaware of national and program-specific parental leave policies and pregnancy and lactation accommodations. Here, we examine awareness of current policies in physician trainees across all fields at the University of Colorado (CU) to determine how their perspectives compare to those of US nephrology trainees. Methods: An anonymous, on-line survey of CU physician trainees (residents and fellows) was undertaken from February to May 2024. Results: 223 physician trainees submitted the survey (23% male, 76% female, 0.5% nonbinary). The majority of fellow respondents were unaware of individual program specific (47%) or ACGME (78%) mandated parental leave policies. 41% of trainee respondents were unsure if their program limited night shifts or shifts greater than 24 hours for pregnant trainees and 33% reported they were unsure if their program provided lactation accommodations. Almost 70% of trainees agreed or strongly agreed that they would avoid a pregnancy during residency/fellowship due to concern that they would have to extend their training. Still, 59 trainees had children during training. When asked about the duration of parental leave taken during training, trainees most frequently responded (30%) that they received 6-8 weeks of family leave. 80% of trainees who had children prior to or during training reported their career plans did not change as a result of pregnancy or parenthood. These results were similar to what was seen in US nephrology fellows (Figure). Conclusion: Most physician trainees report that they would avoid pregnancy during training and are unaware of parental leave policies and pregnancy/lactation accommodations that would support pregnancy and parenthood. This lack of awareness is consistent across all training programs, including nephrology programs.(Un)awareness of national and program-specific policies for pregnancy/parental leave among physician trainees at CU and nephrology fellows across the US