Am J Surg. 2025 Oct 17;251:116662. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2025.116662. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) mandates at least six weeks of paid medical, parental, or caregiver leave for residents and fellows. The primary aim of this study is to determine the proportion of orthopaedic surgery residency programs with parental/adoption leave policies on their website. The absence of this information may dissuade female medical students from pursuing orthopaedic surgery.
METHODS: Websites of all ACGME-accredited allopathic orthopaedic surgery residency program websites reviewed. Data collected included the number of current female residents and parental/adoption leave policies.
RESULTS: Among 183 program websites, 4.4 % listed a parental leave policy and 3.3 % listed an adoption leave policy. Listing a parental leave policy on the program website was associated with a higher mean proportion of female residents, although this did not reach statistical significance.
DISCUSSION: Despite ACGME policy, very few programs list parental/adoption leave policies on their websites, highlighting an opportunity for improvement.
PMID:41197205 | DOI:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2025.116662
