Baby during residency; Issues w/ ABFM?

[BarberBunun31324]

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I am planning on having a baby during Family Medicine residency.
1) Although FMLA may be offered by a program, I was told ABFM only allows 30days of leave; otherwise, there are some negative consequences on boards? Is this true? What are those negative consequences? 2) Are there any reasons that a resident would not be able to take the full 12 weeks off that FMLA allows?

Thank you! Appreciate your help.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

I am planning on having a baby during Family Medicine residency.
1) Although FMLA may be offered by a program, I was told ABFM only allows 30days of leave; otherwise, there are some negative consequences on boards? Is this true? What are those negative consequences? 2) Are there any reasons that a resident would not be able to take the full 12 weeks off that FMLA allows?

Thank you! Appreciate your help.

What my program did was 4 weeks off and then a 4 week elective that was mostly or entirely able to be done from home, so you basically end up with 8 weeks off.

You could take more but that would delay graduation and put you off cycle a little bit.

 

[BarberBunun31324]

Thank you! How bad is being off cycle/delaying graduation? Does it just look bad or would it make it harder to find jobs/get board certified etc? I guess I'm asking what are the negative consequences of being off cycle?

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

Thank you! How bad is being off cycle/delaying graduation? Does it just look bad or would it make it harder to find jobs/get board certified etc? I guess I'm asking what are the negative consequences of being off cycle?

It might mess with getting board certified, I'm not sure. Can be a pain in the butt for your residency depending on how they structure things like malpractice insurance.

Taking that much time will also mess with your co-residents' schedules which isn't usually a nice thing to do.

 

[BarberBunun31324]

That makes more sense. Thank you!