gms | German Medical Science

73. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC)
Joint Meeting mit der Griechischen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC) e. V.

29.05. - 01.06.2022, Köln

Pregnancy and neurosurgery – preliminary results of a nationwide survey

Schwanger in der Neurochirurgie: erste Ergebnisse einer nationalen Umfrage

Meeting Abstract

  • Catharina Conzen-Dilger - Universitätsklinikum RWTH Aachen, Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Aachen, Deutschland
  • presenting/speaker Karlijn Hakvoort - Universitätsklinikum RWTH Aachen, Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Aachen, Deutschland
  • Hans Clusmann - Universitätsklinikum RWTH Aachen, Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Aachen, Deutschland
  • Anke Höllig - Universitätsklinikum RWTH Aachen, Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Aachen, Deutschland

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. 73. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC), Joint Meeting mit der Griechischen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. Köln, 29.05.-01.06.2022. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2022. DocV331

doi: 10.3205/22dgnc316, urn:nbn:de:0183-22dgnc3160

Published: May 25, 2022

© 2022 Conzen-Dilger et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.


Outline

Text

Objective: Pregnancy in surgical disciplines often leads to a ban from the operating theatre. Especially German legislation focuses more on the “protection” of mother and child than autonomy. Since data for German neurosurgeons are scarce, we aim to evaluate the situation of pregnant female neurosurgeons in Germany.

Methods: We performed an online survey via SurveyMonkey among all female members of the German society for neurosurgery (DGNC) and the professional association of German neurosurgeons (BDNC).

Results: Out of 286 invited female neurosurgeons, 59 responded the questionnaire (21%), of whom 35 (59%) have children or are currently pregnant with their first child. Of these, 85% reported concerns to announce their pregnancy because of potential job-related disadvantages like surgery ban. All participants (having children/ currently pregnant) wanted to continue surgery while pregnant. However, 42% (14/33) did not perform any surgery during pregnancy, primary due to an immediate surgery ban given by the employers (86%).

The remaining 58 % of the pregnant neurosurgeons were initially able to continue to operate. However, after official announcement, another 47% of these were imposed with a surgery ban. Ten of the 21 banished neurosurgeons appealed, but no one was successful.

Self-estimation revealed a reduction of surgical activity to 30% compared to the year prior to their pregnancy. The majority experienced a 1-1.5 year (30%) or a 1.5-2 year (27%) interval without surgical activity because of pregnancy and motherhood. Half of the respondents experienced discrimination in surgery allocation procedures after job return.

Conclusion: Despite the preliminary character of our data, there is a contradiction between female neurosurgeons’ preference to perform surgery during pregnancy and the actual situation, in which many experienced an involuntary ban from the surgical theatre. Even if they were allowed to operate, the number of performed surgical procedures was considerably lower compared to the year before pregnancy. Combined with the surgery-free interval due to parental leave and the reported discrimination in surgery allocation procedures after job return, female neurosurgeons experience major disadvantages in their surgical training. We postulate that the surgery ban in pregnancy aggravates a glass ceiling effect for female neurosurgeons and propose to diminish bureaucratic obstacles to enable continuation of surgery for those who wish to do so.