ArticlePloS one2021
Fellowship program directors and trainees across the United States find parental leave policies to be inconsistent, inaccessible, and inadequate.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Formal Parental Leave Policies and Trainee Well-Being in US Graduate Medical Education: A Systematic Review.Journal of graduate medical education · 2024Pooled it
- Leave During Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship: Balancing Flexibility and Educational Rigor.Annals of surgical oncology · 2026Article
- Taking Leave During Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship: A National Evaluation of Policy and Practice.Annals of surgical oncology · 2026Article
- Parental Leave Policies in Obstetrics and Gynecology Training Programs in the United States and Canada.O&G open · 2026Article
- Accessibility and Characterization of Parental Leave Policies for Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Training in the United States.Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews · 2024Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionDetermine the consistency, accessibility, and adequacy of parental leave policies for adult and pediatric medicine fellowship programs.
methodsWe administered a 40-question survey to fellowship program directors (PDs) and trainees in adult and pediatric cardiology, hematology/oncology, gastroenterology, and pulmonology/critical care fellowship programs in the United States. We used Chi-square tests to compare proportions for categorical variables and t-tests to compare means for continuous variables.
resultsA total of 190 PDs from 500 programs (38.0%) and 236 trainees from 142 programs (28.4%) responded. Most respondents did not believe that parental leave policies were accessible publicly (322/426; 75.6%), on password-protected intranet (343/426; 80.5%), or upon request (240/426; 56.3%). The PDs and trainees broadly felt that parental leave for fellows should be 5-10 weeks (156/426; 36.6%) or 11-15 weeks (165/426; 38.7%). A majority of PDs felt that there was no increased burden upon other fellows (122/190; 64.2%) or change in overall well-being (110/190; 57.9%). When asked about the biggest barrier to parental leave support, most PDs noted time constrains of fellowship (101/190; 53.1%) and the limited number of fellows (43/190; 22.6%). Trainees similarly selected the time constraints of training (88/236; 37.3%), but nearly one-fifth chose the culture in medicine (44/236; 18.6%). There were no statistically significant differences in answers based on the respondents' sex, specialty, or subspecialty. DISCUSSION: Parental leave policies are broadly in place, but did not feel these were readily accessible, standardized, or of optimum length. PDs and trainees noted several barriers that undermine support for better parental leave policies, including time constraints of fellowship, the limited number of fellows for coverage, and workplace culture. Standardization of parental leave policies is advisable to allow trainees to pursue fellowship training and care for their newborns without undermining their educational experiences.
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