Michelle and I were talking about the factors complicating family life, in particular- how to start a family with both mom and dad in residency. We decided the central issue was women who want to have children are stretched too thin between professional and family obligations during residency. We have observed a huge demand for a type of residency track that is more accommodating to those female physicians with preserved maternal instinct from both anecdotal and online sources. In keeping with the longstanding medical tradition of change, we have invented the: Family Medicine Residency - Maternal Track, designed for the physician who would like to procreate during their younger years but also not throw in the towel professionally while doing so. We envision the residency, specifically oriented toward Family Medicine - will be of extended length with lighter hours/call to help moms be moms. A Family Medicine Residency program is a perfect candidate for this type idea because it has a shorter length, (normally 3 years would be extended to 5 or 6 years), but more importantly the residency is named in the spirit of the endeavor- Family Medicine. Ultimately we are hoping to create a more balanced work/family life during residency where in the past intense hours have shown to skew these obligations for women with children. We believe that it takes more than a residency to create a competent physician, instead years of clinical decision making will bear out who the good doctors are. In light of the lifetime commitment that medicine obliges, we see no logical reason to forgo prime reproductive years when family planning is more optimally suited for this time. To that end we have begun to create a custom extended residency curriculum with the aforementioned goals in mind. We also expect the demand for this type of program to be significant!! OK- time to plan.
Michelle Duvall & Eugene Scharf
