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Gyn/Obs (serious question) - "gross" in a way or no ??


medigeek

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I've actually wondered about this... the reality of gyn is that you're going to see stuff that isn't "normal" as in there's a problem down there. Thus, having to deal with the sight of it / smell of it... Isn't this gross in anyway that it could turn one away from the opposite sex? So making a heterosexual partially asexual?

 

Similar with obs, doesn't delivering babies change your entire perception about down there?

 

For obvious reasons... let's not try to carry this thing to surgery or anything. Different case here, just wondering.

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Part of being a health care professional is being empathetic while maintaining a certain distance - separating professional from personal. Medical students learn to frame the interaction as between that of a provider and a patient - and usually will be so focused on taking the history, doing the physical correctly, and figuring what is going on before presenting to their preceptor that they won't be thinking of the patient in any other way.

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Yes "gross in a way". Which is why I'm not doing it. Don't want to deliver babies and placentas (don't image-google that) only to be rewarded with a pile of feces on the side, and a screaming woman in pain in the background. Just not my thing...mad respect to all Ob/Gyn though for going through this.

 

As to going asexual...I don't know, you have to try it to find out, or do a research project on this or something.

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In a word, no, and it's not like obs/gyn is the only specialty where you'll be seeing lots of genitalia.

 

@Handsome88: Can't say there was ever a "pile of feces" and the only woman who didn't get an epidural was one who went into labour too quickly to have one. But delivering a baby for the first time remains the coolest thing I've ever done.

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and the only woman who didn't get an epidural was one who went into labour too quickly to have one.

 

Either you've seen a skewed proportion of deliveries, or you institution is epidural happy

 

Lots of analgesia free deliveries going on (probably fewer in the tertiary care centres).

 

To answer the original question, yes, obs/gyne rotations do mess with my mind a bit in terms of how i view the opposite sex. My least favourite rotation in both clerkship and residency.

 

But if youre the kind of person who gets the willies from that kind of stuff, then youre kind of self-selecting yourself for a different residency choice. And yes, you are likely to see abnormal private parts in almost all medical careers, but you certainly are not seeing them consistently every day.

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I've actually wondered about this... the reality of gyn is that you're going to see stuff that isn't "normal" as in there's a problem down there. Thus, having to deal with the sight of it / smell of it... Isn't this gross in anyway that it could turn one away from the opposite sex? So making a heterosexual partially asexual?

 

Similar with obs, doesn't delivering babies change your entire perception about down there?

 

For obvious reasons... let's not try to carry this thing to surgery or anything. Different case here, just wondering.

 

Are you fourteen? If not, then you won't have a problem.

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"...about down there...."

 

I spat out my coffee. Love it.

 

From now on, I will counsel my patients just like that. About their bits. You know...down there...I should get a Hello Kitty doll as a prop. And point to the "bits".

 

Disgusting? Wait until you've got a few good chancre sores under your belt and a few ulcerating vaginal carcinomas. Oh, and let's not forget our best friend: the as yet undifferentiated vaginal discharge!

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for me ob can be "gross" just because blood and amniotic fluid explode in all direction... yes, poo smells bad, but nurses have to deal with it more than us... i'm still straight after having done ob/gyne and urology...

 

op, i'm guessing you're in the last years of high school? you guys need to go easy on him/her

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  • 1 month later...

So, I'm just finishing my OBGYN rotation here and after seeing everything for two months straight, I really agree with one of the posters above that the preoccupation with getting everything right as a student more than takes people's focus away from what they're dealing with. Sure, you're dealing with amniotic fluid, blood, sh*t, get splashed everywhere especially your shoes, see lots of genitalia, but hey, that's medicine...compare this with forensic pathology and you'll know what I'm talking about.

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