Asking about maternity leave policies during resident meet & greet

[weekendwarrior14]

I'm applying to family medicine and preparing for residency interviews at the moment. My husband and I are hoping to start a family during intern year. Would it be appropriate to ask about maternity leave policies during the resident meet & greet? I've heard that asking that question could back fire and result in me receiving a lower rank. Maternity leave policies are a huge factor in my residency choice, and I know that not all programs abide by what is listed on their website. If I don't ask this question in the meet & greet, is there another way to find out the truth without being dinged for it?

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[Mr.Smile12]

To help, at least for FM

Parental Leave During Residency Training

Read AAFP's policy on parental leave plans during residency training.

www.aafp.org

I think you can ask general questions about the attitude the residents have about taking family leave (more inclusive to include parental health issues). But specific policy questions should be asked to the residency leadership or admins IMO.

 

[LunaOri]

You can ask residents whether anyone in their year took a family leave, how that was handled, and how it affected them. It’s relevant whether it’s you (or one of your co-residents) who is taking the leave.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I think you have correctly identified that the resident meet-and-greet is the right place to ask this question. Most of the time the residents won't have much of a say in terms of ranking applicants, unless they go out of their way to report back negatively about a weird/awkward applicant. However, while a formal interviewer is not allowed to ask questions about family plans, etc, if YOU bring it up first you may open yourself up to a number of follow up questions that you might not really want.

 

[Cornfed101]

If they rank you lower for asking about maternity leave you don’t really want to go there anyway

 

[Dr G Oogle]

Here is the acgme policy , all residencies are reqhired to adhere to this

ACGME Answers: Resident Leave Policies

Part of the ongoing ACGME Answers series, this post aims to clarify confusion regarding the ACGME's requirements for leaves of absence.

www.acgme.org

 

[operaman]

The best way to inquire about this stuff is simply to ask general questions about how many residents have kids and then engaging those people personally and ask them about their own experience.

The policies around this stuff are all wrapped up in federal law and everyone will say the same boilerplate answers. The personal experiences are what you really want because that gives you a sense of the culture at that program. Ideally, programs that are very family friendly will showcase that fact and brag about how many trainees have had kids while there and show you lots of cute pictures.

We were very family friendly and these sorts of questions were some of the most commonly asked at meet and greets and on tours and at socials and whatnot. Just chat people up about their personal experiences and you’ll get a sense of what it’s like. The actual written policies are easy to find online.