Several prominent imaging groups are urging the American Board of Radiology to allow physicians to take 12 weeks of family medical leave during residency, in addition to four weeks of vacation per year.
ABR’s parent organization, the American Board of Medical Specialties, has mandated that all of its 24 member boards enact such a policy. And the Tucson, Arizona-based physician certification group is currently gathering input, with a suggested starting point of six weeks of leave.
In an editorial published Tuesday, 21 physicians proposed that ABR allow residents in good standing to take 12 weeks family leave or more, if approved by their program director. The statement was endorsed by nine specialty groups, including the American Association for Women in Radiology and the American College of Radiology’s Young and Early Career Professional Section.
“The normalization of parental, caregiver and medical leave is long overdue in medicine,” first author Kirti Magudia, MD, PhD, an abdominal imaging and ultrasound fellow with the University of California, San Francisco, and co-authors wrote April 13 in Radiology. “The above recommended policy would represent an opportunity for the ABR to be a trailblazer among medical specialties with an approach that maintains high standards of clinical training and truly promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as physician well-being, all of which will ultimately positively impact patient care.”
Magudia et al. noted that their proposal is “in the spirit” of the Family and Medical Leave Act. It also respects previous statements issued by the Association of Program Directors in Radiology and Society of Chairs of Academic Radiology Departments in support of a 12-week leave.
In an update posted Monday, the ABR emphasized that individual programs and institutions will not be bound by its final policy. It additionally has no way to require that leave is paid or unpaid. Rather, the board is looking to establish the maximum amount of time a physician may be absent from training and still graduate on time.
“A specific option that has received broad support is seven work weeks (35 workdays) per year, averaged over the length of a four-year residency. This would be the equivalent of four weeks of vacation per year, plus 12 weeks for parental, caregiver, and medical leave as outlined in the ABMS policy,” the April 12 blog post noted.
ABR encouraged the field to share feedback before the end of April and also recently hosted a webinar on the topic.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.