Parenthood and neurosurgery in Europe a white paper from the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies’ Diversity in Neurosurgery Committee Part I – Family Planning and Practice during Pregnancy

Abstract

Introduction

Family and work have immensely changed and become intertwined over the past half century for both men and women. Additionally, alongside to traditional family structures prevalent, other forms of families such as single parents, LGBTQ + parents, and bonus families are becoming more common. Previous studies have shown that surgical trainees regularly leave residency when considering becoming a parent due to the negative stigma associated with pregnancy during training, dissatisfaction with parental leave options, inadequate lactation and childcare support, and desire for greater mentorship on work-life integration. Indeed, parenthood is one of the factors contributing to attrition in surgical specialities, neurosurgery not being an exception.

Research question

The Diversity in Neurosurgery Committee (DC) of the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS) recognizes the challenges individuals face in parenthood with neurosurgery and wishes to address them in this white paper.

Materials and methods

In the following sections, the authors will focus on the issues pertaining to family planning and neurosurgical practice during pregnancy in itemized fashion based on an exhaustive literature search and will make recommendations to address the matters raised.

Results

Potential solutions would be to further improve the work-family time ration as well as improving working conditions in the hospital.

Discussion and conclusion

While many obstacles have been quoted in the literature pertaining to parenthood in medicine, and in neurosurgery specifically, initiatives can and should be undertaken to ensure not only retention of colleagues, but also to increase productivity and job satisfaction of those seeking to combine neurosurgery and a family life, regardless of their sexual identity and orientation.

Highlights

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  A recent study on European neurosurgeons revealed that men were significantly more likely to have children than their female counterparts in our specialty.

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  Studies conducted in the United States have shown that female general surgeons have fewer children and choose to postpone pregnancy, while as many as 40% of them remain childless, as opposed to only 8% of their male counterparts at their same career level and age.

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  Women thoracic surgeons begin their families later in life and have fewer children compared to other women of the same age and male colleagues at the same hierarchical level.

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  Assisted reproductive techniques, adoption, or surrogacy are costly and lack strong workplace support in surgery, disproportionately impacting women and same-sex couples.