Parenthood for New-in-Practice Pathologists: Preparing for Leave and Coming Back to Work

Are you considering having or caring for a new child while newly in practice as a pathologist? This might be a question that you are asking yourself if you have decided to grow your family after completing your medical/pathology training. For those who are in the process of growing your family, these tips focus on navigating new parenthood as a new-in-practice pathologist in the workforce, with specific focus on preparing for parental leave and coming back to work.

I will preface this blog post with sharing that I have had two pregnancies while new-in-practice in an academic setting (and during the COVID-19 pandemic). I learned a lot of lessons from the first pregnancy that really helped with the second.

Getting ready for your parental leave

Communicating your upcoming leave with your colleagues and leadership can be stressful. While it is joyful to share news of a growing family, it is also nerve-wracking to see how everyone will take the news. Will I be seen as a burden to the department? Will my colleagues be mad that they must take on extra work and responsibilities in my absence?

While it’s perfectly reasonable to feel these concerns and worry about these issues, it’s also important to recognize the importance of dedicating time to the ‘life’ portion of ‘work-life’ balance. This time is protected by law and it’s acceptable to take this time in full. While every person is, of course, different in how they react to new situations, you should not feel guilty about taking this time and should plan to take it in full. In addition, there are ways you can mitigate you and your colleagues potential stress surrounding a leave.

One consideration before having this conversation is to envision how you will transition your responsibilities. If you are only doing clinical work, then this transition will be straight forward. For those who are a medical director or any other administrative roles, then the transition becomes a little trickier. Have a plan for clear delegation of your laboratory management/administrative duties. List out all your responsibilities and have your leadership help identify who will take ownership of those responsibilities during your leave. If the designated colleague does not know how to do the job, plan on spending time to teach/proctor those duties to ensure a smooth transition before your parental leave.

For those working in the academic setting, the timing for your leave may potentially interfere with faculty academic review. Keep the timing of the review in mind as you get ready for your leave so that the application is submitted well in time before your leave begins. If needed, communicate with your leadership to discuss whether there is flexibility for delaying your review. Be kind to yourself if you cannot make the deadline and must postpone – unexpected things may happen. Unfortunately, these are the instances where one might feel professionally “penalized” for growing your family. Additionally, the pressures associated with academic medical life, which are stressful on their own, contribute to added stress for new physician parents.

Enjoying your leave

Do not forget to enjoy your parental leave and stop thinking about work! I have the habit of checking work emails all day, every day, even on vacation. This was the same for maternity leave as well. With the second pregnancy, I became mindful to set work aside, which made maternity leave much more enjoyable. A thoughtful transition plan that takes into consideration various aspects of your day-to-day (e.g. clinical, administrative, research, teaching duties) will help mitigate the anxiety if you are a worrier like me.

Coming back to work

During my first pregnancy, I did not intend to take my entire allotted baby bonding time, but I changed my mind very quickly after finding out that I had no idea what I was doing. As soon as I knew I needed to extend my leave, I communicated this to my colleagues and leadership. I was greeted with support, and I think the advanced notice was appreciated. Communication is critical.

For both pregnancies, I developed a transition plan with my colleagues and leadership before starting my leave. Being in transfusion medicine, this ended up looking like a few weeks of flexibility to focus on laboratory management and medical directorship before fully diving into service work, call-coverage, education, and research. The flexibility was well needed as there were inevitably issues with childcare arrangements and general exhaustion from juggling everything at once. If you are anticipating needing flexibility, I encourage asking before rather than later. For those in other pathology settings, a reasonable transition may look like a “part-time” sign-out schedule to allow for a gradual ease back to full-time work, or a reduction of administrative or teaching responsibilities.

A few weeks before returning to work, I contacted my colleagues and leadership to give them an update on my readiness for returning to work. This may be a good time to ask yourself whether the transition plan will meet both your professional needs and needs as a new parent.

Lessons Learned

I was fortunate to have colleagues and leadership who supported me, and who understood the significant impact of parenthood. I want to express my gratitude for that support, because the transition to parenthood (and even second-time parenthood) is very challenging! I believe you will find that in most circumstances, your workplace will be very supportive. Identifying and communicating your needs is important. It is also critical to develop a transition plan with your colleagues so that you can take your time adjusting back to the workforce. Don’t forget to pay it forward and treat newly expecting parents with the same kindness and understanding – in fact, be the one to suggest a flexible transition plan to your newly expecting colleagues. Especially those that are expecting their first child and may not be aware of their rights and what is expected of them. I think it’s important to remember that, for many of us, we have been on a path that rarely involves stepping back from work and it can be a bit of an internal culture shock to do so.

On reflection, the majority of the work-related stress that I felt during the first pregnancy was self-induced. I was in denial that parenthood would be a significant adjustment and I was unreasonable to myself for thinking that my pregnancy was a burden to the department. During the second pregnancy, I was much kinder to myself.

For those who are growing their family in any stage of your career as a pathologist, I just wanted to let you know that juggling career and a family is HARD and can easily seem to be a journey full of self-doubt, guilt, and multitasking. Know that you are not alone, you are doing a tough thing, and that deserves recognition in and of itself. We all must support each out in our respective journeys through life.

Reference

Cusimano MC, Baxter NN, Sutradhar R, McArthur E, Ray JG, Garg AX, Vigod S, Simpson AN. Delay of Pregnancy Among Physicians vs Nonphysicians. JAMA Intern Med. 2021 Jul 1;181(7):905-912. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2021.1635. PMID: 33938909; PMCID: PMC8094034.

Jennifer Woo, MD, FCAP, is a pathologist at City of Hope National Medical Center in Southern California with primary focus on transfusion medicine. She is a member of the New-In-Practice Committee at the CAP.