My last rotation of third-year was OB/GYN! I have to say that I forgot how much I enjoyed being in the OR. There are a lot of procedures in OB/GYN and I really do enjoy working with my hands again. What I didn’t realize was how bloody these procedures can be!
I can certainly appreciate why people go into OB/GYN. It has a nice mix of procedures and clinic work. It makes sense to have a dedicated set of physicians who take care of the mother rather than the child. Obviously they care about the baby too, but their overall focus is to maintain the health of the mom! This is apparent when a baby is delivered through C-section, and the OBs simply hand off the baby to peds.
OB/GYN is like its own language. You really don’t get much OB/GYN exposure in any other rotations (maybe a little bit in Family Medicine), so there is definitely a bit of a learning curve when you get started. You have to learn how to interpret fetal heart tracings and try to learn all the different abbreviations that come with OB/GYN territory: BPP, NST, PIH, TOLAC, CS, and many many more.
I have to say that the patient population in OB/GYN is just not for me. Most mothers are very gracious and appreciate what the physicians do, but OB/GYN just isn’t my jam. The hours are a little hectic, and I don’t find maternal medicine to be compelling for me. That is not to say that OB/GYN isn’t important, it just doesn’t click for me.
