Family-friendly Family Medicine Residency Programs

[MedGrl@2022]

I hope to have a newborn and/or will be pregnant during my intern year. I am in my mid/late-30s so waiting is not much of an option, unfortunately. What are some things that I can ask about or look out for while I am interviewing for Family Medicine residency programs? Are there some things that make some programs more family-friendly or better for new moms/parents during internship/residency? How do you go about asking these questions during interview season? Or how do you go about finding out whether a program is family-friendly or not?

Thank you in advance!

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[ninjamaterial210]

I hope to have a newborn and/or will be pregnant during my intern year. I am in my mid/late-30s so waiting is not much of an option, unfortunately. What are some things that I can ask about or look out for while I am interviewing for Family Medicine residency programs? Are there some things that make some programs more family-friendly or better for new moms/parents during internship/residency? How do you go about asking these questions during interview season? Or how do you go about finding out whether a program is family-friendly or not?

Thank you in advance!

I'm no expert on the matter but last year during my wife's interviews she would just straight up ask "What provisions do you make for women who have a baby during residency?" That puts the ball in their court as every program is required to make provisions, then you'll be able to compare/contrast. But my wife found her best answers talking to the residents on auditions/interview days to see what their family situation is and how they were provided for. Not sure how to target specific family-friendly programs for apps tho.

 

[hallowmann]

Feel free to explicitly ask. If that's a little tough, you can always just ask residents if they have families/had kids during residency. If you find the class have very few residents with kids or extended families, that could certainly be a redflag. I can tell you pretty much almost every female resident with a spouse I've known in the categorical FM program had at least one child in training. It should be an easy thing for them to answer, and if it isn't that should be a red flag.

 

[FrustratedFamDoc]

Specifically what are you looking for when you say family friendly?

The larger the intern class, the lighter the call schedule. In general, unopposed programs will have a higher work load and see more patients than opposed ones.

Intern year in general sucks, everywhere, and you will be expected to pull your weight regardless of your circumstances. If leaving early, showing up late or having someone else take your call happens more than VERY rarely, you will erode the relationship you have with your fellow interns and other residents so be very careful with this.

It's a slippery slope. The more you do, usually the more you learn and will be able to do once you graduate. It's hard to serve 2 masters.