Oocyte Cryopreservation Experiences and Attitudes Among Female Orthopaedic Surgeons

Female surgeons more commonly delay childbearing and experience higher rates of infertility than women in the general population. More women are entering orthopaedic surgery but face unique challenges in family building. The accessibility of fertility preservation strategies among female orthopaedic surgeons remains underexplored. We aimed to investigate facilitators of and barriers to oocyte cryopreservation, especially during orthopaedic residency.

A survey regarding family planning and experiences surrounding oocyte cryopreservation was designed and distributed via residency program directors, regional orthopaedic societies, and the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society. Female orthopaedic surgery residents, fellows, and attending physicians were invited to participate.

Of 169 participants, 107 (63%) reported intentionally delaying childbearing and 58 (34%) reported delaying or planning to delay for ≥4 years. Although 91 respondents (54%) had considered oocyte cryopreservation, only 36 (21%) had undergone or planned to undergo at least 1 cycle and 55 (33%) ultimately decided not to undergo it. Inflexible scheduling of work, lack of insurance coverage, and restrictive leave policy were the most important barriers to oocyte cryopreservation during residency. Among current residents and fellows, 30 (38%) would not have been comfortable telling program leadership that they were planning to undergo oocyte cryopreservation and 25 (32%) reported that they would not have been provided adequate scheduling flexibility. When given 5 multiple-choice questions about female fertility and the oocyte cryopreservation process, respondents answered a mean of 1.46 questions correctly.

This study revealed a high degree of interest in oocyte cryopreservation among survey respondents but identified persistent barriers of financial burden, inflexible scheduling, institutional stigma, and limited fertility knowledge. Residency programs should prioritize schedule flexibility, proactive leadership support, and privacy-conscious accommodations for fertility-related care as well as structured reproductive health education for trainees.

Barriers to fertility preservation during orthopaedic training directly affect physician well-being and the ability to recruit and retain women in this specialty, which, in turn, impact patient access to quality care from a diverse physician workforce.