{"id":2477,"date":"2018-10-04T15:50:19","date_gmt":"2018-10-04T19:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/?p=2477"},"modified":"2018-10-04T15:50:19","modified_gmt":"2018-10-04T19:50:19","slug":"diapers-during-residency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2018\/10\/diapers-during-residency\/","title":{"rendered":"Diapers During Residency"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cassandra<\/a>

Cassandra Fritz, MD, is a Chief Resident at Washington University Hospital in St. Louis, MO<\/p><\/div>\n

I had the fascinating experience of interviewing for residency at 20+ weeks\u2019 pregnant. Although a number of people told me that I was doomed, I found the experience to be quite enlightening. Since I couldn\u2019t hide the fact that life outside medicine was going to be important to me during residency, I felt empowered to ask the \u201cdon\u2019t ask\u201d questions during my interviews. What did I have to lose? The perk of interviewing while pregnant was that it was\u00a0very apparent which programs were going to be supportive of work-life balance and which programs were trying to wish away my protruding belly. This experience helped me to determine where I was going to have the most support, academically and personally.<\/p>\n

\"baby<\/a>Some people find the thought of having children during residency unimaginable, but\u00a0a growing number of us not only contemplate<\/em> having children while in training, but decide to take actually<\/em> the plunge into changing diapers. Pregnancy during residency is not a new concept. In 1986, a study reported that 12% of women from Harvard-affiliated programs had at least one pregnancy during residency training (N Engl J Med 1986; 314:418)<\/a>. Jump forward to 2013\u20132016, when another study\u00a0showed that approximately 40% of residents had or were planning to have children during residency (Acad Med 2016; 91:972)<\/a>. Although diapers during residency continues to gain traction, residency programs\u00a0have a\u00a0paucity of standard guidelines that outline how to best support residents with children.\u00a0So, do\u00a0residents\u00a0feel like they are blazing a new trail at their program if they decide to have children?<\/p>\n

If you decide diapers are going to be in your near future, here is some advice:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Be organized!<\/strong> \u2019Cause mama doesn\u2019t have time not to be<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    You will be wearing many hats: resident, mommy\/daddy, wife\/husband\/partner \u2014\u00a0and all of these roles will require \"scales<\/a>your attention. My personal secret was to compartmentalize my life as much as possible. When I was home, it was family time until my kids went to sleep. While I was at work, I focused on work. But compartmentalization doesn\u2019t get you out the door on time in the morning, organization does! Our family has a routine, and we live and die by that routine. When I walk in from work each day, I don\u2019t pass go until bottles and lunches for the next day are prepared. Organization at home will allow you to be efficient, on time, and present at work.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Don\u2019t be afraid to ask for help, because the only way to do it all is with A LOT of help.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      I am blessed that I have a great support system around me. If I know my schedule won\u2019t allow me to pick up my kids from daycare at a reasonable time, I have a list of people who are happy to spend time with my boys. I don\u2019t worry about how this looks to outsiders, or the fact that I probably have the longest list of people on my \u201capproved for pick up list\u201d at daycare. Who cares? What is important is that my boys are well cared for and loved. Having a strong support system means that I rarely have to call off from work because of child care issues. Because, let\u2019s face it, we still work in an environment when \u201cmommy issues\u201d at work are frowned upon.\u00a0 Although it was initially hard for my type A personality to let go and ask for help, it is the only way to have it all.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Advocate for yourself: Understanding the difference between equity and equality is imperative <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        \""equity"<\/a>Traditionally, I think we fall into a trap where we think that everything should be equal. If resident A gets a thing, then so should resident B. But in truth, maybe resident B doesn\u2019t need what resident A needs. We need to move to a system that values equity over equality. This is not intuitive, so when you are resident parent, you must be your own advocate. You are inevitably going to have different concerns than your co-residents who don\u2019t have children and\/or\u00a0significant others. There was one point during my intern year when my husband was traveling for work, and I made it a priority to pick up my son from daycare on time each evening (other than call days). Although my rush to get out of the hospital at the end of the day could have been seen as a negative, I had a co-intern and a senior resident who were extremely supportive, because I communicated with both of them what my needs were that week. Obviously, I always got my work done, but our team dynamics were improved because our open lines of communication were open. Fast forward to my\u00a0second year, when another co-resident fell ill and needed coverage\u00a0during an ICU month: I happily volunteered to cover his shifts. When you and your program focus on equity over equality, everyone can get what they need to be successful.\u00a0It really does all balance out.<\/p>\n

        At the end of the day, if you are ready to become a parent, don\u2019t let residency stop you. If you are in the special position of choosing a program while expecting a child, ask those \u201cdon\u2019t ask\u201d questions during your interview to gauge\u00a0programs\u2019 receptivity to resident parents. I promise you, they will show their hand.<\/p>\n

        Some might say I am too positive and na\u00efve, but I think we can do it all (with a lot of help and the \u201cright\u201d supportive program). When you are a doctor, there is never going to be a \u201cbest\u201d time to have children. Finding and doing what makes you happy both in and out of the hospital is an important aspect of developing resiliency and experiencing joy during these 3 hard years. Although you will laugh when non-parent residents complain about sleep deprivation, you will also find that babies can teach you a lot about yourself and keep you grounded during this journey. Personally, my boys brought me so much joy during my training years that I truly can\u2019t imagine doing residency without changing diapers. So, as far as my personal belief about changing diapers during residency: do it well<\/em> and do it often<\/em> because no one needs a \u201cblow out\u201d right before\u00a0walking into rounds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        I had the fascinating experience of interviewing for residency at 20+ weeks\u2019 pregnant. Although a number of people told me that I was doomed, I found the experience to be quite enlightening. Since I couldn\u2019t hide the fact that life outside medicine was going to be important to me during residency, I felt empowered to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[126,125,37],"class_list":["post-2477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-residency","tag-children-during-residency","tag-parenting","tag-resident-experience"],"yoast_head":"\nDiapers During Residency - Insights on Residency Training<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dr. Fritz has some advice for juggling patients, on-call shifts, babies, and bottles.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2018\/10\/diapers-during-residency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Diapers During Residency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr. Fritz has some advice for juggling patients, on-call shifts, babies, and bottles.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2018\/10\/diapers-during-residency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Insights on Residency Training\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-04T19:50:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/07\/AU000_cfritz.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cassandra Fritz, MD\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cassandra Fritz, MD\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2018\/10\/diapers-during-residency\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2018\/10\/diapers-during-residency\/\",\"name\":\"Diapers During Residency - Insights on Residency Training\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-04T19:50:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-04T19:50:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/95f290b962ba28ba0d5eb1b1696d3ec2\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Fritz has some advice for juggling patients, on-call shifts, babies, and bottles.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2018\/10\/diapers-during-residency\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2018\/10\/diapers-during-residency\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2018\/10\/diapers-during-residency\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Diapers During Residency\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/\",\"name\":\"Insights on Residency Training\",\"description\":\"Observation of residents across diverse medical specialties\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/95f290b962ba28ba0d5eb1b1696d3ec2\",\"name\":\"Cassandra Fritz, MD\",\"description\":\"Cassandra was born and raised in a small town in central Illinois. 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