(Poster 61) Parental Leaves at OBGYN Residency Programs in the United States and Canada

Objectives: To describe parental leave policies for trainees in obstetric and gynecology (OBGYN) residency programs and assess these policies in regard to 26 items of transparency based on prior work in General Surgery literature. Additionally, we aimed to compare policies between U.S.- and Canada- programs, and to examine differences between top-ranked U.S. programs and those with lower rank.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of parental leave policies from OBGYN programs in the United States(US) and Canada. 292 accredited programs in the US were emailed between July and October 2024. Programs were considered non–responsive after three consecutive emails over a two-week interval. When responses were unavailable, institutional websites were searched to identify publicly posted policies with attention on the 2024 Doximity top ten highest ranked Obstetrics and Gynecology residencies.

Policies were evaluated using a framework of 26 “transparency items” derived from prior work in general surgery, including leave duration, paid benefits, lactation accommodations, contract flexibility, and childcare provisions.

Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results: Data were obtained from 65 of 292 (22.3%) training programs in the United States including top 10 “top-ranked” programs and 10 of 16 (62.5%) of programs in Canada. Parental leave policies were obtained via direct response in 55.4% of cases and through online review in the remaining 44.6%.

The median number of transparency items addressed at each program was 13 (range 0, 20). While programs frequently reported the presence of a maternity and paternity policy (55 / 67 (82.1%) and 44 / 67 (65.7%) respectively), details of these were often lacking. Among programs with information about maternity leave, the median duration offered was 6 weeks although there was a significant range from 4 weeks to 78 weeks.

Transparency around childcare was limited with few residency policies addressing on-site childcare 10/67 (14.9%), priority childcare enrollment 4/67(6.0%) and availability of emergency/backup childcare services 6/67(9.0%). Similarly lactation support was often omitted; only 10/67(14.9%) specifically mention a lactation policy and 12/67 (17.9%) mention availability of lactation rooms.

Canadian programs reported significantly more transparency compared to programs in the United States (14.5 vs 12, p < 0.001). Among U.S. programs, overall transparency was limited. While top-ranked programs did not report more transparency items overall, they were more likely to have details listed in their policies about parental leave, lactation (0.75 vs 0.13, p=0.003) and childcare (1.25 vs 0.23, p=0.002) compared to those that were not top-ranked.

Conclusions: Parental leave policies for trainees in OBGYN remain inconsistent and often lack clarity. Canadian programs demonstrate significantly more transparency.