Obs/gyn Verus General Surg

[london2015]

Going into clerkship and setting up electives/ Carms has anyone been torn between obs/gyn and ten surge? what swayed you one way or the other?

[Fresh fry]

O&G is two specialties in one; one surgical and one more medical. If you are a straight surgery person than it might not be for you. As far as the surgeries go they are fairly limited in number and intensity, even for the subspecialists (this is coming from someone who is interested in obs). That is not to say that they are not difficult and challenging in their own right, the scope is just much more narrow. At some sites a lot of OR time is also dedicated to simpler procedures like hysteroscopy and D+C. Of course your bread and butter is the C-section. Personally I enjoy them but I have heard them compared to a one-hit-wonder band which has been forced to play the same song night after night for 30 years. I like Obs because of how varied the job is. For example an average week may look like: Day 1: OR Day 2: Colposcopy or outpatient procedures Day 3: Gyne clinic Am/prenatal clinic PM Day 4: L+D call Day 5: Post call/half day clinic.

 

I really can't speak to the gen surge aspect as my experience is limited to my core rotation but I would suggest that there are other surgical specialties to consider if you do not have some strange attachment to the liver/gallbladder/bowel/colon/anus/breast/thyroid.

 

Also, Obs electives can be hard to get so plan well in advance. GL

[NLengr]

The big question is how do you feel about ureters? Choose one to help find what is right for you:

 

No problem with them. Live and let live: Gen Surg

Hate those f*ckers. They're gonna get it: Gyne

 

On a serious note, I think the big question will be how you feel about obs. That would be the biggest difference. If you aren't really enthused about obs, maybe gen surg would be more for you.

 

From an OR point of view, both gyne and gen surg will get you into the OR. Both of them offer interesting ORs. I wouldn't worry that you will get bored of ORs in gyne. You could just as easily get bored of your bread and butter ORs in gen surg.

 

Gen surg has a greater variety of type and locations of surgery but Gyne will give you a chance to do a bit of medical management and long term ownership of the patient (more like ENT or Uro) which some people like and some people don't.