1. Do surgeons adjust clinical productivity after maternity leave?
- Author
-
Cassandra M. Kelleher, Maggie L. Westfal, David C. Chang, Christy E. Cauley, and Ya-Wen Chen
- Subjects
Employment ,Surgeons ,business.industry ,Significant difference ,Efficiency ,General Medicine ,Leave of absence ,Parental Leave ,Maternity leave ,Pregnancy ,Bayesian multivariate linear regression ,Humans ,Medicine ,Female ,Surgery ,business ,Productivity ,Relative value unit ,Demography - Abstract
Background It has been speculated that women's productivity decreases after maternity leave. In this study, we measured if surgeon clinical productivity decreases after a maternity leave or other types of leave. Methods Data from a large medical center was used to measure surgeon productivity before (pre) and after (post) a leave of absence. Post-to-pre productivity ratios were calculated for each leave based on operative volumes and Relative Value Units (RVUs). Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed for the post/pre productivity ratios, adjusting for surgeon characteristics. Results Fifty leaves of absence, from 30 surgeons, were analyzed. There was no significant difference between post and pre leave productivity for maternity leave or other types of leave. There was also no significant difference when comparing post/pre productivity ratios between maternity leaves versus other types of leave (volume: 0.06, p = 0.52; RVU: 0.08, p = 0.58). Conclusion Surgeons do not significantly reduce clinical productivity after maternity or other types of leaves.
- Published
- 2022