240 Parental Leave in Neurosurgery: A United States Cross-Sectional Study

INTRODUCTION: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) implemented a minimum of 6 weeks parental leave for residents in July 2022. The implementation and impact have not previously been studied in neurosurgery. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey (August 2023 to December 2023) of neurosurgeons (residents and faculty) at ACGME accredited programs. We elicited demographic, obstetric characteristics, as well as experience with parental leave and career satisfaction. Association between continuous variables was evaluated using Pearson’s correlation, Shapiro-Wilks test for data distribution, and central tendency comparison using One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis or Mann-Whitney U. RESULTS: There were 145 anonymous survey respondents (response rate 15%), with an average of 41 years. The majority (72.2% and 73%) were female and married. Mean age of first pregnancy was 32 years. Female participants took more TPL (8.6 vs 2.0 weeks; Pearson’s R: -0.635, p-value: < 0.001) and FMLA (6.6 vs 1.6 weeks; Pearson’s R: -0.553, p < 0.001) than males. There was a statistically significant difference between how much parental leave leadership believes residents have vs. amount of FMLA leave (U-statistic = 328.0, p-value = 0.004) and TPL (U-statistic = 289.5, p-value = 0.001) residents take. There was no significant difference in mean TPL taken by residents and attending physicians. Older participants took less TPL compared to younger participants (Pearson’s R -0.307, p-value = 0.009). CONCLUSIONS: Our survey demonstrates neurosurgeons in general took less than the minimum suggested leave. Departmental leadership perceived individuals took more leave than they reported. This study highlights the opportunity to increase support for parental leave amongst neurosurgeons.