Authors’ Response

We thank Dr Kadia for her positive review of our work, and we appreciate her willingness to share personal experiences that add to the 56 interviews included in our study. Our study described ways that providing obstetric care both contributes to and prevents burnout. We identified three ways that providing obstetric care contributes to burnout for family physicians: stress/fear factor, time commitment, and OB call schedule. We agree that one way to minimize stress/fear factor could be to have OB backup coverage available, and that one way to minimize time commitment and OB call schedule concerns could be to have a structured call schedule. We were happy to hear that these solutions are working for Dr Kadia.

It is important to note that OB backup coverage and a structured call schedule may be a privilege of working in urban and/or academic practice settings. Though some of the physicians who participated in our study described being supported through those strategies, others did not. We recognize that different clinical settings may produce different burdens related to providing obstetric care as family physicians. Regardless of practice setting, it is possible that an adequate call structure could be the key to eliminating the paradox and protecting family physicians who want to deliver babies from burnout. However, recognizing the variety of settings in which family physicians work, we advocate for finding creative solutions to address burnout for physicians in settings where OB backup coverage and structured call schedules are not a realistic option.