Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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With the rising number of female physicians, there will be more children than ever born in residency, and the current system is inadequate to handle this increase in new resident parents. Residency is stressful and rigorous in isolation, let alone when pregnant or with a new child. Policies that ease these stressful transitions are generally either insufficient or do not exist. Therefore, we created a comprehensive return-to-work policy for resident parents and piloted its implementation. Our policy aims to: 1) establish a clear, shared understanding of the regulatory and training requirements as they pertain to parental leave; 2) facilitate a smooth transition for new parents returning to work; and 3) summarize the local and institutional resources available for both males and females during residency training. ⋯ Our return-to-work policy for new resident parents provides a comprehensive guide to training requirements and family leave policies, an overview of available resources, and a scheduling framework that makes for a smooth transition back to clinical duties.