Study asks: Why isn’t anyone talking about medical students with children?
A new paper by Brown University researchers is one of the first to call attention to the need for more support for medical students who are pregnant or parenting.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] There are no national studies on medical students who are parents and very little information about what medical schools are doing to support these students, a review by researchers at Brown University found.
In fact, there isn’t even an accurate measure of exactly how many such students there are: According to the Association of American Medical Colleges’ 2020 Medical School Graduation Questionnaire, 7.3% of graduating medical students reported “having at least one non-spouse dependent” an inclusive phrase that covers, but doesn’t differentiate, parents of children.
There are no national studies on medical students who are parents and very little information about what medical schools are doing to support these students, a review finds.
In fact, there isn’t even an accurate measure of exactly how many such students there are: According to the Association of American Medical Colleges’ 2020 Medical School Graduation Questionnaire, 7.3% of graduating medical students reported “having at least one non-spouse dependent” an inclusive phrase that covers, but doesn’t differentiate, parents of children.
Without data on these students, it’s harder for medical schools to provide the support they need when they need it, says Shayla Durfey, coauthor of a new scholarly perspective piece on pregnant and parenting medical students. She cites longitudinal studies of PhD students showing that beginning to support pregnancy and parenting at the faculty level, rather than at the student level, creates a “leaky pipeline” that can cause trainees to