by: Samantha J. Baker I am a PGY-5 General Surgery resident at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and returning from maternity leave for my second child as this blog post is being published. I a...
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The True Cost of ABSITE Prep
By Martha Godfrey Everyone thinks in dollars and cents when it comes to the cost of preparing for the American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination (ABSITE): $150 for a textbook, $295 for a que...
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Infertility and Pregnancy in Women Surgeons: Taking Action to Create a Welcoming Practice Environment for Women Surgeons
By Alyssa D. Brown, Morgan S. Levy, and Amelia G. Kelly As many as 1 in 4 women physicians will be diagnosed with infertility. Unfortunately, this number is likely higher for those in surgical speci...
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Comfortably Chaotic
By Amy Tefft I started my intern year with an 8-week-old, but it was months before some of my colleagues knew that I had a child. I was quietly pumping alone in the bathroom, in between writing notes...
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Keys to Success in Arranging Childcare for Surgeon Parents
By Dr. Lillian Erdahl When I got married at the beginning of my lab years, two years into seven years of General Surgery Residency, I was not sure that I wanted to be a mother. I had been single-mi...
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Building a family in surgery, and finding one too
By Colette Inaba, MD You can’t be both a surgeon and a mom. At least, that was my understanding throughout my early years of medical school. Let me clarify that nobody explicitly told me that...
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Not What I Planned, More than I Expected
It was approaching 3:30 pm in the afternoon as I sat finishing up progress notes for the day. As I looked at my watch, I felt the feeling of dread start to creep in. At any moment I w...
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Racing back to work
By Bethany Harvey But, what about FMLA? That is the common response I receive when friends and family ask why I am working on formalizing a maternity/paternity leave and lactation guidelines for m...
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“Peri-Menopause”
By Arghavan Salles In January of this year, I started investigating the process for egg freezing. Having spoken with three more reproductive specialists after my original consultati...
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Dear Pat Responds to Surgeon-Mother-to-Be
Dear Pat, I’m a second-year surgery resident and somewhat older than my co-residents. I am considering getting pregnant during residency, but I am unsure if my co-residents will be supportive. I ...