Pilot Survey of Female Anesthesiologists’ Childbearing and Parental Leave Experiences

While the literature regarding physicians' childbearing experiences is growing, there are no studies documenting those of anesthesiologists. We surveyed a convenience sample of 72 female anesthesiologists to obtain pilot data. Sixty-six women completed the survey (91.7% response rate), reporting 113 total births from before 1990 to present. Of all birth experiences, proportions of respondents reporting parental leave, lactation facilities, and lactation duration as adequate were 52.3%, 45.2%, and 58.3%, respectively. Most mothers (51.8%) gave birth to their first child while they were trainees. The majority (94.9%) favored an official statement supporting parental leave. These results may serve as groundwork for larger studies. Accepted for publication August 15, 2018. Funding: None. Conflicts of Interest: See Disclosures at the end of the article. Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citations appear in the printed text and are provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal's website (https://ift.tt/KegmMq). Reprints will not be available from the authors. Address correspondence to Amy C. S. Pearson, MD, Department of Anesthesia, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, 200 Hawkins Dr, 6JCP, Iowa City, Iowa 52242. Address e-mail to amy-pearson@uiowa.edu. © 2018 International Anesthesia Research Society

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