Parenting Pressures Among Academic Pediatricians During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Abstract

* Abbreviation: COVID-19 — : coronavirus disease 2019 Pediatricians advocate for parent wellbeing as a component of child health, and most pediatricians are parents themselves, the majority with partners who also work.1 Yet academic departments of pediatrics inconsistently address workplace parent supports, which resulted in challenges for pediatrician parents even before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, pediatrician parents are experiencing work-related and parenting-related challenges that have spurred escalating concerns about work-life integration, burnout, and remaining in the academic workforce. We offer an approach for academic departments of pediatrics to support their faculty’s pandemic-related work-life integration, noting that such supports may benefit all faculty, parents and nonparents alike. We use the term “parent” broadly to include those with dependent-care responsibilities (eg, those caring for children, adults with disabilities, or elders) and parents-to-be (ie, pregnant or family building). “Women” is intended to include all those identifying as such. Although we focus here on academic pediatricians, the pandemic parenting load affects nonphysician colleagues as well as pediatricians in nonacademic positions; this similarly warrants attention. Supports for parenting pediatricians should be implemented by using an inclusive, team-centered approach that acknowledges that some supports for parenting physicians (eg, flexible clinic schedules) will impact other members of the health care team. Even before the pandemic, parenting pediatricians faced unique challenges to work-life integration compared with their nonparenting colleagues. Despite the preponderance of parents and women in academic pediatrics, many institutions do not yet provide robust family benefits that are increasingly available in other industries (eg, paid parental leave and back-up or on-site child care). … Address correspondence to Kimberly A. Randell, MD, MSc, Division of Emergency Medicine, Children’s Mercy, 2401 Gillham Rd, Kansas City, MO 64110. E-mail: karandell{at}cmh.edu