Maternity leave in fellowship

[nope80]

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Anyone have experience about starting fellowship on maternity leave?? Would really appreciate anyones advice/experiences.

I don't want to be behind and look bad (first impression) and am wondering how acceptable it is to take maternity leave in July?

 

[jdh71]

Anyone have experience about starting fellowship on maternity leave?? Would really appreciate anyones advice/experiences.

I don't want to be behind and look bad (first impression) and am wondering how acceptable it is to take maternity leave in July?

Well. It's kind of hard to get unpregnant, right? (assuming you're planning to have the child)

It pretty much will suck for you, the program, and your fellow colleagues who will have to pick up your slack if you go maternity leave in July. Perhaps it's not fair, but it's not a great way to make friends. Lol.

If you're just "planning" a pregnancy, I'd serious wait until after your first year of fellowship as first year is usually weighted the hardest.

Good luck. Never easy to have a child in training for women.

 

[nope80]

Yeah definitely. I don't want anyone having to pick up my slack or take extra calls, especially in the beginning🙁!

What is the shortest maternity leaves that people have taken? Under normal circumstances, what is the norm and what is the shortest anyone has heard of? I really appreciate the input.

 

[dpmd]

I heard of a OB/gyn resident who took floor calls during labor and rounded on her patients post delivery, but I am guessing that most people are going to want a bit more time off.

 

[keindo]

I heard of a OB/gyn resident who took floor calls during labor and rounded on her patients post delivery, but I am guessing that most people are going to want a bit more time off.

The thing is unless you're in OB it's just not as convenient 🙂

 

[dpmd]

Oh, also one of the medicine residents used to do rounds from a rolling office chair because she was supposed to be on bedrest but didn't want to graduate late. Not sure how long she took off before and after though.

 

[jdh71]

Yeah definitely. I don't want anyone having to pick up my slack or take extra calls, especially in the beginning🙁!

What is the shortest maternity leaves that people have taken? Under normal circumstances, what is the norm and what is the shortest anyone has heard of? I really appreciate the input.

I'd say if you're going to do it, just take your few weeks and enjoy and bond with your new baby. **** the police. You can't NOT have the baby, so you might as well take some leave (federal law gives you 4 months of protected leave, and some states extend this - though you obviously do not have to take any of it). You don't have to be out long, but I'd suggest taking a month, even if it means extending training by a month. Whatever.

Tell your fellowship PD about this now, because they will start making schedules in march and april for the coming year. Actually, in some ways, it might be better right at the beginning and sometime in the middle if you think about it.

 

[keindo]

Oh, also one of the medicine residents used to do rounds from a rolling office chair because she was supposed to be on bedrest but didn't want to graduate late. Not sure how long she took off before and after though.

... one could say she wanted to fast-track to fellowship.

I'm here all night folks 😀

 

[gutonc]

You certainly won't be the first person to do it. How unpopular it makes you among your colleagues will depend on the specialty. Cards CCM or GI with a hairy call schedule? Everyone is going to hate you. Endo or rheum? Who cares?

As to the time off issue though , FMLA only kicks in after 11 months with an employer (Oregon and possibly other states have it kick in sooner), but it's not like you get FMLA on your first day of work unless it's with the same hospital where you did residency.

Absolutely agree with telling your fellowship PD yesterday as well. It shouldn't be that hard to make accommodations now. In my program for example , first year fellows don't take call until September and have 2 elective months first year. You could easily set things up in that kind of environment to have July and August free. YMMV of course but it's probably doable.

 

[drfunktacular]

Take the most time off you can legally get. You can't get back days with your newborn, and I guarantee you will regret missing that time much more than you will ever regret missing a month or two of some rotation you'll do two more times during your fellowship anyway. Think of how you'll feel about this decision 10 years from now, not next year.

If your new colleagues resent you so much they can't get over you taking time off to spend with your new baby, they are b******s anyway so who cares if they like you. Federal employment law governs your PD's handling of the situation.

 

[nope80]

I agree but who wants to be behind and show up up late, you know?

 

[drfunktacular]

True. You'll only be a doctor for 30, 40 years tops, but you'll have plenty more time in the future to spend with your baby in its first months of life...

 

[nope80]

I totally agree. I'm so torn. I know I'll never get the time back but because it is the very very beginning I feel like I will have a bad impression with the program and the other fellows. I will miss orientation, I will miss all the stuff in the beginning. If it were in the middle, I feel like it wouldn't be nearly as bad, but right in the beginning, i feel so uncomfortable. My feelings could totally be unjustified, and maybe someone needs to correct me here...

 

[michaelrack]

Federal employment law governs your PD's handling of the situation.

Federal employment law governs your PD's handling of your job (40-50 k per year job). The law doesn't guarantee that you will be given extra time to complete the academic requirements of your fellowship/board eligibility (although most PD's will be reasonable)

 

[NRC Advisors Program]

First of all, congratulations!
There were actually two people in our program who delayed their start dates, and others who took time off in the middle of the year (most, but not all, for maternity leave). There were no hard feelings, as long as they established that they were hard-working, smart, and team-players once they did return. Two of them received offers to stay on faculty. Your baby is only small once, and the time flies by quickly. Take maternity leave and enjoy it. If your colleagues hate you or are not accommodating, then perhaps these are not people you want to have as colleagues. (I'm writing this with a 2-year-old on top of me.)

 

[drfunktacular]

Federal employment law governs your PD's handling of your job (40-50 k per year job). The law doesn't guarantee that you will be given extra time to complete the academic requirements of your fellowship/board eligibility (although most PD's will be reasonable)

Technically true but in this day and age (particularly with >50% of medical trainees women) it would be a pretty foolhardy move to interfere with someone's ability to get board certified after matching into their program and completing a term of employment just because they took maternity leave. Not to mention that it would reflect poorly number-wise in terms of board certification of program graduates.

 

[nope80]

I don't think they would interfere with my ability to get board certified. But how does it work if you technically haven't started working yet - are you entitled to maternity leave?

 

[michaelrack]

Technically true but in this day and age (particularly with >50% of medical trainees women) it would be a pretty foolhardy move to interfere with someone's ability to get board certified after matching into their program and completing a term of employment just because they took maternity leave. Not to mention that it would reflect poorly number-wise in terms of board certification of program graduates.

agree. I just wanted to point out that this wasn't a pure employment consideration.

 

[rokshana]

I don't think they would interfere with my ability to get board certified. But how does it work if you technically haven't started working yet - are you entitled to maternity leave?

you would most likely get the maternity leave…or they may have you start off cycle…but, depending on how much time you take, you may have to extend the length of your fellowship and not finish on time.
Depending on when the boards are for your subspecialty, it may push you past the time of eligibility for that year and you may need to wait to take the board the following year.

 

[jdh71]

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.

Hold up. I mean I get you've got a whole life to be a physician and whatnot, but let's not downplay the impact someone having a baby can have on a program. Most people do like to play nice in the sandbox, but I have a family that I like to see too, so if I have to take a whole bunch of extra call and miss out on my family so you can spend more time with yours, there is a word for that, and it's called: "bull****". In a perfect world there are fairies and unicorns and everything is fair and everything works out, but the REAL world of medical training these things do not happen in a vacuum is it's a completely irresponsible and a-hole thing to not try and find the best happy medium between your maternity leave and much it has to impact the lives of your colleagues. It doesn't make you a jerk if you begin to resent someone who's personal decisions are beginning to make your life worse.

 

[gutsandbutts]

hey all,

I am current resident who's applied for fellowship in GI for next year. I tried getting pregnant over the last 7-8 months but have had no success. I held off on having a baby after a while so that I wouldnt have a prejudice against me while I was interviewing for GI or have delivered a baby before interviews. Now that I have submitted a rank list I am trying to figure out when to plan to have a baby during GI fellowship. Any advice??

Anyone out there who has done it?

 

[butterfinger]

hey all,

I am current resident who's applied for fellowship in GI for next year. I tried getting pregnant over the last 7-8 months but have had no success. I held off on having a baby after a while so that I wouldnt have a prejudice against me while I was interviewing for GI or have delivered a baby before interviews. Now that I have submitted a rank list I am trying to figure out when to plan to have a baby during GI fellowship. Any advice??

Anyone out there who has done it?

I know multiple fellows who have had children during their training. The GI fellow had hers during the research training portion of her fellowship (pregnant during second year and had baby right before third year started. Same for the two heme/onc fellows I know. There was one cardiology fellow who had her first child during first year of fellowship but her schedule was terrible, extremely front-loaded and her colleagues had extra calls for much of their first year...Needless to say, she was and still is not well-liked...

 

[jdh71]

hey all,

I am current resident who's applied for fellowship in GI for next year. I tried getting pregnant over the last 7-8 months but have had no success. I held off on having a baby after a while so that I wouldnt have a prejudice against me while I was interviewing for GI or have delivered a baby before interviews. Now that I have submitted a rank list I am trying to figure out when to plan to have a baby during GI fellowship. Any advice??

Anyone out there who has done it?

Almost all fellowships are front loaded. Don't jack the schedule first year. Plan for a second year baby.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

To clarify a question above, you usually CANNOT get maternity leave if you haven't actually started working. In order to qualify for benefits you actually have to start working first. A program can delay your start date, but that will be without pay and benefits (you'll simply be unemployed). As mentioned above, FMLA requires that you be an employee for at least a year although some employers will offer a similar benefit from day 1. Many programs will consider maternity leave as a medical leave, which means you might get full pay (or at least partial pay)

 

[Gastrapathy]

Every female fellow from 5 years before me to present has had a baby (or two) during fellowship at my program. Most programs are heavily front loaded so you'd be best off during F2 or F3. That's a couple years away, however, and there's never really a good time.

 

[VJWDO]

I had a baby during my pulm/CC fellowship. I just did it during the research part. It was awesome! Lots of fellows had babies in my program. There was at least one a year. But never a first year. That's messed up. The other fellows will hate you! (It's not right but it's reality). Ultimately I agree that there is no right time. So just keep trying and if it happens it happens.