April 19, 2018 – Support at Work

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:02 — 1.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Anchor lead: A study of breastfeeding physicians points to a need for more supportive workplaces, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Mothers who are physicians are only able to meet their personal breastfeeding goals one-third of the time, a recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine revealed. Patricia Davidson, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, says if that’s true for physicians, what are the prospects for other working women?

Davidson: This study clearly identified that these women felt, so these are physicians, they’re educated, and truly within the work environment are much more autonomous than many other workers, found that it was very challenging to breastfeed. And so I think this study has some important implications for how we support women in the future to breastfeed, and it really then stems to how we are thoughtful and considerate of other caregiving responsibilities. :29

Davidson says these findings are a signal indicating that more accommodations for work/life balance are needed for everyone. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.