Parenting, pregnancy and work–family balance in intensive care medicine: an ESICM survey and a call for action
The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a demanding environment, characterized by unpredictable shifts and heavy cognitive and emotional loads.Burnout [1] and moral distress [2] are well described in ICU, yet their interaction with family life has been less frequently explored.Previous studies demonstrate a significant contribution of work-family conflicts to burnout among other medical specialties [3], but limited information is available among ICU workers.To fill this gap, the ESICM NEXT Committee, the N&AHP Committee and Diversity & Inclusion Group launched a survey to explore and describe workfamily balance and support to parenthood and pregnancy among ICU professionals.
Authors
- Jan J. De Waele (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1017-9748)
- Kathryn A. Puxty (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5742-6171)
- Katerina Iliopoulou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1029-452X)
- Inès Lakbar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0049-6248)
- Gaetano Scaramuzzo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9739-4082)
- Jekaterina Jagodzinska-Peškova
- Charlotte Soulsby
- Elena Conoscenti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4745-9308)
- Marlies Ostermann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9500-9080)
- Meryem Essafti
- Guy François
- G. Grasselli
- Pam Ramsay
- Alessandro Galazzi
- Margaret Herridge
- Suzana Lobo
- Carole Boulanger
- Joel Alexandre
- Parenting and Pregnancy group the ESICM Work-Family Balance
- Margo van Mol
- Emilio Rodriguez-Ruiz
- Khalid Abidi
Institutions
- University of Milan (IT)
- University of Ferrara (IT)
- Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico (IT)
- Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale di Ferrara (IT)
- Regionshospital Nordjylland (DK)
- Arcispedale Sant'Anna (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Intensive Care Medicine
- Published
- 2026-03-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-026-08365-x
- Primary Topic
- Family and Patient Care in Intensive Care Units
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- European Society of Intensive Care Medicine