alt345 Posted January 31, 2017 Report Share Posted January 31, 2017 I'm a female MS3 interested in OBGYN, but worried about the lifestyle and work-life balance. My main interests are Obstetrics (clinic, deliveries) and Gyne (clinics, procedures). How do I approach the issue of the busy and difficult schedule of an OBSGYN vs the desire to have more than sufficient time for family and eventually kids where I could be involved fully in their lives without stressing to find time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoopityBoop Posted January 31, 2017 Report Share Posted January 31, 2017 From what I hear, While it is not the most laid back residency, ob/gyn is one of the better specialities in terms of setting your own work hours. Especially in this day and age, "job-sharing" is becoming more and more common among physicians who want to have more personal time and are not too concerned with some loss in income.An example of job-sharing is this: there are positions for 2 full-time staff at the local hospital (clinic space, and OR time). 3 people will "job-share" to fulfill the 2 full-time staff positions.Even in residency, I hear ob/gyn is very maternity- leave friendly vs other specialities such as gen sx/ortho/vascular.Hopefully this gives you some relief, I would certainly talk to your staff/current residents about it. If you can, try talking to ob/gyn's currently working in community hospitals! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
End Poverty Posted February 24, 2017 Report Share Posted February 24, 2017 Hi, In the future, I am also considering doing ob/gyn residency, and just like you I want to make sure that I have enough time to spend with my family, as well as time to do things that I enjoy. A close friend of mine who just finished her residency was telling me it was not that bad-- she even had her baby during her residency ( she finished her residency at U of C). She said that at time the residency was quite demanding, but she still managed to have time to spend with her family. I think the work load is program specific, and it is dependent on the school. Try to ask residents in your school about the work load in obs/gyn residencies, and whether it is difficult it is to maintain work -life balance, as well as ask about the kind of support they have for residents. Best of Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted March 26, 2017 Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 Not a resident yet, but I'm coming off three months of OB/Gyn right now so I've spent a lot of time talking to the residents over the last bit because I had many of the same concerns (though having a family isn't a future thing for me.) I asked lots of people very directly "is OB/Gyn residency as brutal as is rumoured?" Several answered yes, several answered that it's only the case during parts of it. Lots of the staff who I talked to about the difficulty of the profession said its really not as bad as people think, and the ability to tailor your practice to your interests is appealing. It's a balancing act, as it always is when you have a family and a career (any career.) I have three kids so I've a pretty good idea of my needs are with regards to time with my family and honestly I can see that it will be challenging particularly during the earlier part of residency but long term it seems manageable. That's the story I've gotten from most people I have spoken to. The thing that I was told several times is that OB/Gyn isn't necessarily any more challenging from a career/life balance standpoint than any other specialty with regular call. If you're bound and determined to deliver every single one of your patients instead of taking part in a group that shares 24h coverage, then your lifestyle will suffer, but that doesn't seem particularly common. I came away from my three months of OB/Gyn feeling like I can manage it, for whatever that's worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asthecrowflies Posted April 3, 2017 Report Share Posted April 3, 2017 My main interests are Obstetrics (clinic, deliveries) and Gyne (clinics, procedures). Med student matched to OB/GYN for whatever that's worth. Lots of good things I agree with said above. Since you didn't mention surgery I thought I'd say just be aware that OB/GYN is very much a surgical subspecialty, and much of residency is focused on time spent obtaining surgical skills, completing the principles of surgery course and exam, etc. In obstetrics--operative vaginal deliveries, C-sections, complex obstetrical repairs In gyne--laparoscopic, vaginal, and open surgery, with a trend towards more technological minimally-invasive options As a staff though you do spend relatively more time in clinic as a generalist. If you are primarily interested in clinic, deliveries, and office gyne procedures it's worthwhile to consider family medicine + a women's health year. (not looking down on this option, and of course being a family doctor doing deliveries there's another set of challenges in terms of managing time and practice) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralk Posted April 3, 2017 Report Share Posted April 3, 2017 As a staff though you do spend relatively more time in clinic as a generalist. If you are primarily interested in clinic, deliveries, and office gyne procedures it's worthwhile to consider family medicine + a women's health year. (not looking down on this option, and of course being a family doctor doing deliveries there's another set of challenges in terms of managing time and practice) Just to pick up on this, there's a slow trend in FM towards an FM set-up doing only women's health and deliveries. Especially with some small groups of OBGYN-focused practitioners, they have a call schedule for deliveries similar to a lot of delivery rooms, and then clinics focused pretty much entirely on ante-natal care and women's health. Generalist FM docs with standard office-based practice are trending decidedly away from deliveries, so there's enough demand at the moment for these semi-specialized FM docs, who fit halfway in between midwives and OBGYNs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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