From the Shriners for Children Medical Center-Pasadena (Dr. Poon, Ms. Luong, and Dr. Nguyen), Orthopaedic Surgery Department, Pasadena, CA, the Ventura County Medical Center (Dr. Hargett), Orthopedic Surgery Department, Ventura, CA, the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (Dr. Lorimer), Portsmouth, VA, the Nicklaus Children's Hospital (Dr. Payares), Department of Orthopedics, Miami, FL, and the NYU Langone Orthopaedic Hospital (Dr. Friedman), Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, New York, NY.
J Am Acad Orthop Surg. 2021 Mar 1;29(5):e243-e250. doi: 10.5435/JAAOS-D-20-00198.
Orthopaedic surgery lags behind other specialties in the recruitment of women. Concerns about fertility, pregnancy, and childbearing may be a deterrent to women when considering orthopaedic surgery as a specialty.
An anonymous 168-item survey was distributed to the members of Ruth Jackson Orthopedic Society and the Women in Orthopaedics, an online group exclusive to female orthopaedic surgeons. Respondents were queried regarding family planning, contraceptive length of use, fertility, perinatal work habits, age and stage at each pregnancy, pregnancy complications, and miscarriages.
Eight hundred one surveys were collected. Seven hundred fifty (94%) expressed interest in having children of their own, with 60% having at least one child at the time of the survey. The average maternal age at birth of the first child was 33.6 ± 3.6 years. Voluntary childlessness was reported by 6% (49/801) of survey respondents. Eighteen percent of this group stated that their choice as an orthopaedic surgeon served as a barrier to having children. Among those with children, childbearing was intentionally delayed by 53% because of their career choice (425/801). Fifty-two percent did not conceive their first child until the end of their training. Complications during pregnancy were reported among 24%. A total of 853 children were conceived by this cohort with assisted reproductive technology being used 106 times. Miscarriages were reported by 38% (304/801). Of those who miscarried, only 28% informed their employer and 8% took time off during or immediately after their miscarriage.
Most respondents desire to have children but two-thirds delay doing so because of their career choice and its demands. Having a family is an important part of life for many orthopaedic surgeons, and our study provides an updated description of the fertility and pregnancy characteristics of female orthopaedic surgeons to help guide present and future surgeons in their family planning.
矫形外科在招聘女性方面落后于其他专业。对于考虑矫形外科作为专业的女性来说，对生育能力、怀孕和育儿的担忧可能是一个障碍。
向 Ruth Jackson 矫形协会和女性矫形医师在线组织的成员分发了一份匿名的 168 项调查。受访者被询问有关计划生育、避孕使用时间、生育能力、围产期工作习惯、每次怀孕的年龄和阶段、怀孕并发症和流产的问题。
共收集了 801 份调查。750 人（94%）表示有自己生孩子的兴趣，其中 60%在调查时至少有一个孩子。第一个孩子的母亲平均年龄为 33.6±3.6 岁。6%（49/801）的调查受访者报告自愿不育。该组中有 18%的人表示，他们作为矫形外科医生的选择是生育孩子的障碍。在有孩子的人中，由于职业选择，53%（425/801）的人故意延迟生育。52%的人直到培训结束才怀上第一个孩子。24%的人报告在怀孕期间出现并发症。这一队列共孕育了 853 名儿童，其中 106 名使用了辅助生殖技术。38%（304/801）的人报告流产。在流产的人中，只有 28%的人通知了雇主，8%的人在流产期间或之后立即请假。
大多数受访者希望有孩子，但由于职业选择及其要求，三分之二的人会推迟要孩子。对于许多矫形外科医生来说，拥有家庭是生活的重要组成部分，我们的研究提供了女性矫形外科医生生育和怀孕特征的最新描述，以帮助指导现在和未来的外科医生进行计划生育。
