Availability of Lactation Accommodation Information for Urology Residency Programs

Abstract

Objective: To assess whether urology residency programs publish information about lactation accommodations online. Although residencies are required to provide lactation accommodations, there is limited data on whether programs disclose this information.

Materials and methods: Webpages of U.S. urology residency programs were assessed for presence of information about lactation accommodations. Program characteristics were noted, as were mentions of resident wellness and diversity. Associations between program characteristics and published lactation accommodations were determined by univariate analysis and development of a multivariate logistic regression model.

Results: Of 145 urology residency programs, 72.4% included information about lactation accommodations anywhere on the institution's website There was great variability in ease of accessing information and of quality of information available. Information was most commonly on graduate medical education websites (28.3%) followed by human resources (24.1%), press releases (7.6%), or other sections (11.0%), and least likely to be found on urology residency websites (1.4%). Programs with lactation accommodations anywhere on the institution website were more likely to be larger (P < 0.001), university-based (P < 0.01), and to publish information about resident wellness (P < 0.001), or diversity and inclusion (P < 0.01). On multivariate analysis, only university-based setting and presence of wellness information were predictors of availability of lactation accommodation information.

Conclusion: Lactation accommodation information is usually not available on urology residency websites and most online information is found elsewhere. Predictors of publishing lactation accommodation information were university-based setting and information about resident wellness. Efforts to recruit and retain female urologists should include making this information more easily accessible.