Pregnancy, Maternity, & Being A Doctor

Emily Gottenborg, Christine Jones, Marisha Burden and Anna Maw are  Hospitalists at the University of Colorado and all have had children at some point during their careers. They came on the podcast to discuss their paper “You Can’t Have It All” which looks at the inequities and problems women face when they have children while practicing medicine. An unsparing and inspiring conversation, just like the paper itself.

Note: co-authors Li-Kheng Ngov & Anastasiya Ponomaryova were not able to join this interview

Key Learnings

1. The origins of this incredible paper, especially their shared memories around parental leave (or lack thereof)

2. Framing the paper as a scientific article, then rapidly evolving to one sounding an alarm

3. Using qualitative research and allowing the stories to guide the conclusion

4. The emotional rollercoaster of collecting data, doing the study and identifying inequities in the system

5. The impact of feeling like having children is a choice therefore all the inequities that followed are the fault of the mother for making that choice

6. Releasing the article and embracing the response and the catharsis

7. Dealing with the fear of losing jobs around bringing this material forward and moving past just “being a good soldier” and being a “troublemaker”

8. The unique challenges of being in medical training and starting a family

9. Immediate feedback when the paper was presented at Grand Rounds

10. Progress around paid time off, resources and space for pumping, and work still to be done

11. Crossing from publishing research into becoming activists

12. Moving forward into progress on a huge problem, finding solidarity and sharing information

13. Creating connections across the country through different parts of the work moving forward and where do we find examples of places doing this work well

14. Attrition of great minds and talents from medicine due to gender inequity

Links

The article “You Can’t Have It All” https://www.journalofhospitalmedicine.com/jhospmed/article/189543/hospital-medicine/you-cant-have-it-all-experience-academic-hospitalists

Division Of Hospital Medicine at University of Colorado: http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/medicalschool/departments/medicine/GIM/ClinicalCare/HospitalMedicine/Pages/HospitalMedicine.aspx

#pregnancy, #maternity, #gender, #genderinequity, #medicine, #hospitalist