Female physician and pregnancy- effect of the amended German maternity protection act on female doctors' careers.

OBJECTIVES In Germany, the 2018 amended Maternity Protection Act frequently leads to fundamental restrictions for female physicians, especially surgeons, and now even also for students impeding the progress of their careers. Our goal was to assess the current situation for pregnant female physicians and students, respectively, and their perspective on this amendment regarding their career path. METHODS A nationwide survey was conducted in Germany from December 2020 to February 2021. The questionnaire included 790 female physicians and students who were pregnant after the inception of the amended Act. Those women pregnant after the beginning of the corona pandemic were excluded. RESULTS The survey revealed that two thirds of female physicians worked a maximum of 50% in their previous professional activity as soon as they reported pregnancy. Amongst medical students this amounted up to 72%. 18% of the female physicians and 17% of the female medical students respectively could not follow the sense of these restrictions. 44% of female medical physicians and 33% of female students felt their career impeded. This led up to 43% amongst female medical doctors and 53% amongst female medical students, respectively, who were concerned to announce their pregnancy. As a consequence, pregnancies were reported at 12 weeks in female physicians compared to 19 weeks in medical students. CONCLUSIONS Analyses of the current survey revealed that a relevant number of female physicians and medical students felt impeded in their career path through the application of the amended Maternity Act

How Does Multisource Feedback Influence Residency Training? A Case Study.

INTRODUCTION Multisource feedback (MSF), also called 360-degree assessment, is one form of assessment used in postgraduate training. However, there is an ongoing discussion on its value, since the factors which influence the impact of MSF and the main impact of MSF are not fully understood. In this study, we investigated both the influencing factors and the impact of MSF on residency training. METHODS We conducted a qualitative case study within the boundaries of the residency training for paediatricians and paediatric surgeons at a University Hospital. We collected data from seven focus group interviews with stakeholders of MSF (residents, raters, supervisors). By performing a reflexive thematic analysis, we extracted the influencing factors and the impact of MSF. RESULTS We found seven influencing factors: MSF is facilitated by the announcement of a clear goal of MSF, the training of raters on the MSF instrument, a longitudinal approach of observation, timing not too early and not too late during the rotation, narrative comments as part of the ratings, the residents' self-assessment, and a supervisor from the same department. We found three themes on the impact of MSF: MSF supports the professional development of residents, enhances interprofessional teamwork, and increases the raters' commitment to the training of residents. CONCLUSION This study illuminates the influencing factors and impact of MSF on residency training. We offer novel recommendations on the continuity of observation, the timing during rotations, and the role of the supervisor. Moreover, by discussing our results through the lens of identity formation theory, this work advances our conceptual understanding of MSF. We propose identity formation theory as a framework for future research on MSF to leverage the potential of MSF in residency training