Ob/GYN

[uglyorange]

What are disadvantages of pursuing OB/GYN residency?

[macMDstudent]

In my opinion, the drawback to OB/GYN residency or practice is lifestyle. Lots of call in-hospital, often up all night. As with any surgical specialty, the hours are long and you spend a lot of time in the OR so just liking the OR is not enough, you have to LOVE being in the OR. Most deliveries go well and it is the happiest part of the hospital. However, when it goes bad with deliveries, it can be very, very bad.

[McMastergirl]

Don't forget the really high malpractice premiums!

[aneliz]

The PGY-4 that I was on call with on Sat outlined the disadvantages as being mostly about time commitment. She starts every morning by 630 and is rarely home before 8 at night. She is on call for the gyn-onc patients 24-7 (meaning that she has a pager on her at all times and can be called at any time if there is a problem with one of the team's admitted patients - not that she is in the hospital all of that time). Most of the time, there are no problems that she is called about... and there is another resident in house to cover the 'easy' problems (like tylenol orders, etc), however, she could be called at any time. The clinical fellow on call agreed with the time issue. She is married to an internal medicine fellow, and she is convinced that he 'doesn't really go to work' because she leaves before him every morning and comes home after him every night. Even when she was on her 'easiest' rotation and he was simultaneously on his 'hardest' rotation.

OB/GYN puts in A LOT of hours compared to medical specialties... it is a surgical specialty they keep surgery hours like any of the other surgical subspecialties.

[endingsoon]

The really cool part about OBGYN is that you have the ability to deliver all your own patients. I have worked with many OBGYNs that are on call 24/7 for their patients and will come in no matter what to deliver them.

I tell you no patient will ever respect a doctor more than the one that comes in at 3am from home to deliver her baby.

I almost went into OBGYN largely b.c I think that in the end I would get bored as a lot of the deliveries are the same thing over and over again.

I wish you had the option of doing this in other specialities, like on cardiology if they would call you to PCI all your patients that came in with MIs, but it doesn't seem to be happening as yet.

[Akane200]

I wish you had the option of doing this in other specialities, like on cardiology if they would call you to PCI all your patients that came in with MIs, but it doesn't seem to be happening as yet.

They do that in Alberta: it's called all night cath lab - and it's the only place that does 24 hr cath lab. This should be the standard of care since it has been shown to be superior to thrombolysis, and time is heart muscle. However, unlike obgyn, you can't choose to only come in only for your OWN patients - and, people don't "plan to have MI's" like they plan to have kids. :b One would hope, as a cardiologist that you prevent your own patients from having an MI long before it actually happens. :)

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One thing about obgyn coming in to deliver their own babies, it really is up to the individual obstetrician. I've seen one or two that do their own and are very protective of their patients. I only know of one obstetrician who probably delivered every Chinese baby born in Toronto (including my brothers). He comes in for all of his patients. And he's there all of the time. The people who do this are usually older obstetricians, and still work the way they've always worked before. Taking care of the patient from beginning to end, and very good for the patients who have the continuity into the delivery stage. This is very good for the patient, but is a very hard lifestyle.

The rest of the obstetricians that I've worked with as a student are group practices and get whoever is on call to deliver. Each style of practice has its advantages and disadvantages.