Question for female doctors returning to work post maternity leave

One of our readers, Melissa, who works in the medical profession has a few questions for female doctors:

I have noted that some of your bloggers are physicians and was wondering if you might pose this question to your readers? The medical clinic I practice with is looking to hire a couple of physicians.  As many of you may know it is currently difficult to hire primary care providers as many younger physicians in training are deciding to go into speciality care for a variety of reasons. We have also noted that the applicant pool for female primary care physician is lower than their male counterparts. For this reason at a meeting recently I wondered how many mommy MD's would consider working full time/part time/job share if they did not have the responsibility of call and hospital work. What would draw a female physician who is already a mom to return to the work force after maternity leave?

Any female doctors out there who have any insight for Melissa? On the flipside, for those of us who aren't doctors... How do you feel about a part-time/job-share doctor? Do you fear your doctor won't be available when you need to come in? My kids' pediatrician (a mom of 3 kids) job-shares with another female pediatrician (I'm not sure if she has kids or not). I've actually been surprised at how rarely the job-share schedule has been a challenge. We almost always see our regular doc vs. her partner, and it never seems really hard to get on her schedule (although I know she's super busy and booked. That's just my 2 cents... What are your thoughts?

Comments

[Carol]

I'm not a doctor, but we also had a pediatrician who job-shared, and it worked just fine. Sometimes we got a different doctor for urgent care appointments (but I was just happy to see anyone at those times), and it was never a problem to see our regular doc for regular appointments. And I loved that she was a mom of a young child (lots of empathy!), and that she was able to work out a job situation that really worked well for her and her family.

[c.t]

I am a family physician, I currently work 4 days a week and I'm preparing to have my 2nd child in July. Job sharing/part time work would be ideal, or part time with no inpatient/out of office responsibilities. Returning to work was difficult after the our first child was born, especially when work can be very emotionally demanding and stressful.