Availability and Variation of Parental Leave Policies for General Surgery Residency Programs

Only 6% of general surgery residency program websites and 52% of graduate medical education (GME) websites provide information about parental leave policies. Family Medical Leave Act policies are most commonly reported, followed by maternity, paternity, and adoption/other clauses. The study found that academic programs, program location in the southeastern US, and larger program size were predictors of online policy availability. These results highlight the need for surgery residency programs to improve the disclosure of parental leave policy information.