Video: 5 tips for physicians considering having kids

While not everybody wants kids, physicians who do might think that having children would be too difficult given the busy lives that they lead. We spoke with Dr. Kimberly Williams, a psychiatry resident in Calgary, about how to manage a career as a physician and a life as a parent. Her insight can be helpful for those considering starting a family. TRANSCRIPT Dr. Williams speaking: So my name is Dr. Kimberly Williams. I'm a neuropsychiatrist and inpatient psychiatrist in Calgary, Alberta. I have a master's degree in global health. And I just completed my fellowship here and will be writing my exam next fall for certification to become a certified neuro psychiatrist. 1. There is no right time to have kids My first is there's no right time to have a kid, I think that we'll always have pressures, we'll always have deadlines, and there'll always be reasons to wait longer to have a child. So I think what's important is that you decide what the right time is for you. Because I think whether you're a student or resident or a staff physician, there's just different pressures, but they're always there. So I think you need to decide what's right for you and do that. 2. Control and organize what you can Number two, I think it's important to take control over what we can; often in medicine, especially as trainees, you don't have the ability to have autonomy over your schedule. So I think it's important to take control over what you can. So if you've got kids, that means thinking ahead about oh, well, if my childcare is closed that day, then I need to take a vacation day. Or if I'm going to be stuck potentially at hospital for long hours, what's the community that can help me raise that kid, whether it's friends or parents. 3. People will help you more than you expect them to Number three, people often help more than you expect, I think I was afraid as a resident when I was pregnant, I was really sick. I had a lot of vomiting and nausea. And it was happening while I was on call. But I was really surprised that people were willing to help. So nurses would give me a few minutes, they would wait to page me so that I could feel a little bit better. I had our program administrator, before I was on call, she let me take a second alone so that I got a bit of a break before I was on call. When I came back as a resident and was pumping breast milk, people were open to giving me some time and space to do that, I felt a bit strange about being open about some of the things I needed as a new Mum, but actually was really impressed by the responses that I got. When I got over my own anxiety, I went asking for the ability to have access and have time and space to do those sorts of things. 4. Let your child teach and guide you through the process Kids, in some ways, can be your biggest teacher. While becoming a doctor, I had a baby that was six months old, and a husband that was helping to take care of her. And I think that it was really helpful to have had a child because I think I could have spent all my time outside of medicine studying. And she was my biggest, biggest teacher because it meant when I was with her, I had to be mindful and present and focused on things outside of medicine. And I believe that that helps us to be well rounded. And it helps us to be well. We know it helps us to take care of patients. 5. Understand that having kids is not for everyone and that it can be done in unconventional ways I think that medicine is changing; it’s 2021 and I think we're starting to look at diversity and inclusion in the medical field, which is really important. And I think we need to be open to looking at allowing physicians to find balance, we know that that helps us to be well. And that ensures that we actually provide better patient care, there's good data around that. But I think we need to be open to whether people want to have children or not. Both are okay. If people want to adopt children, if people want to go through supports to have children around things like IVF, if people want to be a parental figure to someone in their family who's not their biological child, I think we need to really push some of those envelopes, and be open to all of those things in medicine. And that really I think starts with us asking questions, advocating for policies to change and being open to the fact that you know whether you’re a woman or a man in medicine, you should have access to take time off, to be with your family or to support a partner.

Video: 5 tips for physicians considering having kids

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