As many of you know, my infertility journey was an impetus for me - a call to action to spread the news about #PhysicianInfertility.
Since my ectopic pregnancy 3 years ago, I’ve:
▫️Shared my story via this instagram, podcasts, and on stage at national conferences to raise awareness about physician infertility.
▫️Founded SheMD to reach thousands of aspiring female physicians via social media, conferences and speaking engagements and share the data on physician infertility.
▫️And now I’ve got some BIG NEWS (and yes technically this big news is a few months late, but I’ve been busy with an infant so forgive me) but…
MY RESEARCH ON PHYSICIAN INFERTILITY IN EMERGENCY MEDICINE WAS PUBLISHED!
I’m so proud to share that our study, “IMPACT survey: IMpaired fecundity in Physicians and Association with Clinical Time” was recently published.
In this study, we surveyed 2072 female Emergency Medicine physicians (one of the biggest sample sizes in any study on physician infertility) and found that rate of impaired fecundity (infertility) in emergency physicians was 24.9% as compared to the national average of 12.1% (P < 0.001). This study confirms that female physicians have a rate of infertility of almost twice the national average, which has been found in other studies with smaller sample sizes in the past.
Also, female emergency physicians with impaired fecundity reported working 9.8 overall more clinical hours (95% CI 2.5–17) and 4.5 more night hours (95% CI 0.8–8.2) than those with normal fecundity. Additional research is needed to elucidate work‐related impaired fecundity risk factors.
While little P is certainly my biggest miracle, this study is a meaningful byproduct of my infertility journey. I hope via additional studies, data and increased awareness, we may make being a PHYSICIAN AND A MOM easier for future generations of female physicians.