Résumé
Introduction: women’s average age when giving birth is 28.5 years old. At this age, future doctors are still in their internship. It does not seem surprising to see students becoming parents in spite of a highly demanding professional situation.Main objective: analyze the impact of parenthood on internship and internship on parenthood.Method: qualitative analytic study by means of semi-structured interviews with future medical doctors from Montpellier’s medical college, currently interns, having at least one child.Results: physical and psychological impacts are real, lots of interns show signs of fatigue since their child’s birth. Even though their priorities are modified, they are still committed to their medical studies. Indeed, they even look for an internship’s site much closer to their homes in order to be in adequacy with their parental obligations (lighter schedule and medical care permanence). However, they are not ready to sacrifice the formative value of their internships. They therefore face real difficulties threatening work-life balance. Major one is finding a babysitter, as they often have schedule shifts and different workplaces. Positive aspects are also raised. Lots of interns highlight an improvement in human relations, especially in pediatrics, where they can understand the situation of patient’s parents.Discussion: potential improvements are a priority access to various hospital’s nurseries, half-time work, and none on-call shifts during the semester following birth.Conclusion: internship seems to be an appropriate time to welcome a child, the right to maternity leave is an essential point. Nonetheless, more rights could be developed in order to ease future medical doctors’ parenthood.