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Prescriptions for parenting: How two-doctor couples balance the family game

When both parents are physicians, the demands of juggling work and family require flexibility and often a little bit of creativity.

By Beth Wilson, amednews correspondent. Feb. 11, 2002.

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After Christina Nicolaidis, MD, MPH, had a miscarriage, she made a career change. As an internist and an assistant professor at the Oregon Health and Sciences University in Portland, Dr. Nicolaidis spent most of her time seeing patients every 15 to 30 minutes. She was working about 60 hours a week, unable to complete her research to her liking.

"I wasn't happy, and I realized had I carried that pregnancy, it would have been difficult to come back to work after my leave," she said. "I thought, 'Why am I spending all this time at work when I'm not happy and it's taking me away from my family?' "

So she made a decision. She told her boss, "I'll take a pay cut," hoping to lighten her clinical load, do more research and get pregnant again.

Dr. Nicolaidis, who was successful in her plea and in obtaining research grants, isn't the only doctor re-evaluating her schedule to make room for children. Physicians, like the rest of the work force, strive to achieve the precarious balance between work and family. In two-physician families, it's not always the women who are altering their schedules. After having children, some doctor couples return to work full time, hire nannies or rely on relatives. In some instances, husbands are seeking paternity leaves or taking time off from their careers.

When Charlie Polsky, MD, and Isabel N. Polsky, MD, had their first son, William, they were finishing their internal medicine residencies at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Health System. Each took the first month off; Isabel continued her maternity leave two more months and Charlie, who also had saved some vacation time, took off the next six weeks. [...]