Am I crazy?

[OBGirlie]

Okay, so I recently was deciding b/t rad onc and OB and I ended up selecting OB b/c its what I TRULY enjoy. However, I am now getting all of these people saying "your life is going to suck, are you crazy, no children for you, kiss your husband goodbye, boy is your residency going to be hell. . ." and am now getting cold feet on my decision I always thought it was most important to do what I'm interested in (I excel in subjects that I find interesting, but complain every minute of studying stuff that does not appeal to me).

Guess I'm just looking for some reaffirmation from others right now b/c I had no idea that folks felt so negatively coming from the "lifestyle" specialties.

I figure if after residency I decide I want more time to start a family, I could always do women's health at a college campus or something like that. I just found that working with women and dealing with topics of reproduction and sexual health are areas that I am the most passionate about. . . anywho, sorry for the LOOOONNNNNNNGGGG post Unfortunately, making career decisions is a little more stressful for me than others I guess.

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[dreammerchants]

I think we all have been told similar stories !!! Being a guy and having done really well on my surgery rotations believe me I have heard all sorts of things from the surgeons and everyone.....they think I am crazy for deciding to go into OB and that too cause I am a guy.

If you are interested in the area go for it ...... as for quality of life ... well Residency is going to suck . no doubt about it .. but residency is only 4 years ...... after that call will depend on how you base your practice. In a group practice you could be on call only q7. I say if you are interested in the area stick with it !!

 

[Dre1207]

Hi OBGirlie and all of you...

I too was in a similar predictament...i really LOVE OB, but started to consider Rads because I like the "where's waldo" part about looking at films, scans, etc...So i did a rotation in radiology where the Radiologist did the high risk US scans for MFM and everytime I saw a pregnant woman, i wished I could follow up with her care...i felt pretty unfulfilled...so OB it was....I really do enjoy the specialty, and have heard similar stories from other residents about how crazy i am for going into it...blah blah blah...but if you ask me, the IM and FP people work just as much since many of them have to round in house on the weekend if they have hospital privileges. I'm on my SubI in medicine right now and i totally hate it...the medicine attending has been working 7 days straight with about 22 cases all with their own crazy chronic problems...each day I'm there it makes me more excited about working with mostly healthy women or interesting OB cases. I know residency is difficult in any specialty, and dreammerchants is right...if you go into group practice your call can be pretty good. I def don't want to be a solo practitioner. But i hear ya, I love dealing with reproductive health issues and the variety found in OB is unparalleled. I say go for it!

 

[Cholinergic]

Can anyone speak more about life post residency? I pretty much expect residency to suck time wise, but people are always saying how the life of an OB sucks. I mean, what are the hours really like? I'm very interested in OB (haven't done it yet though) and keep getting the same pitying looks and discouragement. I am hard-headed though

 

[SippiGirl08]

i recently did a rotation with a private practice ob/gyn, and he gave me a lot of insight on what post-residency life is REALLY like. he is in a group practice of four, only three of which deliver babies, so he's on call every third day and every third weekend. q3 sounds horrible but the way they break it up is interesting. he's on call M TH (the weekend person does Fri, Sat, Sun) Tues, Fri, Sat, Sun, Wed, and so on. So other than the week he has weekend call, he really only takes call once or twice a week, with the intervening weekends completely free. they all take call from home and even labor patients from home, only coming in to admit pts from the ER and eventually deliver, leaving most of the work to the nurses. all three docs try to induce as many patients as possible (whether or not you agree with this practice is up to you), thus reducing the likelihood of ever being called into the hospital.

the doc i followed was in his late 50s, and he only delivered about 10-15 babies per month. one of his partners is three years out of residency, and he delivers about 20-25 per month. the partner who is now doing only gyn does 1-2 surgical cases per day, while my doc did about 1-2 cases per week.

if there were no cases, we started rounds at 8:15, after he dropped his son off at school . we usually only had 1-3 patients in the hospital at a time, so rounds were easy (although he liked to take his time). we then started clinic at 9:30, and were often finished by 3:30-4:00. he stayed later than that to work on charts, but since we only saw 10-20 pts per day, i'm sure he was probably home by 5 or 6 at the latest. fridays were his surgical days (no clinic), so we left when the last case was done, usually by noon. if he didn't schedule any cases that day, we had a three-day weekend. theoretically, he worked less than 50 hours per week plus the hours he came in while on call (IF he came in at all). taking call from home sounds pretty great to me!

his clinic is a multidisciplinary one associated with the hospital he has privileges at. being on the hospital campus cut down on commuting time, esp after rounds, and allowed us to walk over periodically to check on the inductions while seeing patients in clinic.

 

[mini doc]

I'm so happy I found this thread!! I get the "are you crazy" looks all the time. And now people are starting to scare my husband telling him he's never going to see me again. What are the opportunities to only do gyn after residency in a group practice? or would a solo practice be better?

 

[dreammerchants]

I must say .... there is some truth to the prevailing opinion about ob/gyn. I actually know of 9 people who are leaving ob/gyn just for that reason .. the hours really suck in Ob/gyn and residency is the worse....unlike other specialties you cannot do call from home.

With regards to going for a pure gyn specialty...unless you are doing a fellowship in REI or gyn-onc I would think it would be hard to establish a gyn only practice.

 

[drkewl]

your lifestyle will depend primarily on how much money you want to make. If you want to make in the 250,000 range and on up, prepare to work your tail off. If 125,000-200,000 is ok for you, you will have more flexability.

Can say the same thing for just about any specialty, although the salary figures would vary. Also, most residents have no clue what private practice is like (all they know is academics) so I would take what they say about your 'life' in OB with a grain of salt. Many of the OBs I know are very happy with what they do. Of course it has its drawbacks, but so does every other specialty.

 

[drmom2007]

Life is what you make it. I am currently an intern in ob/gyn. I am married and have a child and working any were for 60 to 80 hours a week. Some weeks are good and some not so good. I am at a family friendly residency program. My daughter and husband visit me when I am call and after hour dinners commitments our meetings families are always welcomed. The female attendings at the hospital vary in what life choices they have made. Some work more than others. Some have chosen to make less money and work only part time and stay home with their children and others work their butt off and have no children. It is really up to you. You need to decide what you want in life. You did to do what makes you happy.

 

[mdjobexchange]

OB is a tough lifestyle. The nature of OB jobs is going to have to change or there won't be anybody to deliver babies.

About 70% of OB residents are female and about half of them are not delivering babies 2 or 3 years after residency.

I think this is going to result in better pay for those remaining OB/Gyns that still deliver babies.

In most cities, every hospital has an OB service and the OB's run around to all the different hospitals killing themselves. What will probably need to happen is that some hospitals will not have OB services and the remaining OBs will focus on a few hospitals and have some type of shift-work situation. The current trends in OB are unsustainable. If you like OB, I imagine the "typical OB pratice job" will be somewhat different in 4 or 5 years.

 

[Geekchick921]

Life is what you make it. I am currently an intern in ob/gyn. I am married and have a child and working any were for 60 to 80 hours a week. Some weeks are good and some not so good. I am at a family friendly residency program. My daughter and husband visit me when I am call and after hour dinners commitments our meetings families are always welcomed. The female attendings at the hospital vary in what life choices they have made. Some work more than others. Some have chosen to make less money and work only part time and stay home with their children and others work their butt off and have no children. It is really up to you. You need to decide what you want in life. You did to do what makes you happy.

Wow! You sound like me a a few years down the line. I'm planning on starting med school in 2010. I will hopefully already have a child with my husband (we're getting married in May), and I'm hoping to have at least one more before starting residency. I'm 100% sure I want to be an Ob/Gyn. At what hospital are you doing your residency? I've love to know, and if you looked into other family friendly Ob/Gyn residency programs, I'd love to know what those were as well. Feel free to PM me if you don't want to derail the thread too much.

 

[Trillgirl]

So what is "real life" like?

I am now an attending (6 mo out of residency) in a 4 person, hospital-owned practice. I take 24 hr call one weekday a week and every fourth weekend. This means one morning a week in OR, one day on L&D, two full days and two half days in the office. So... lots of clinic; therefore less flexibility with my hours during the day. My calls are from home and I do have the benefit of an MD-run triage to see my rule out labor/rupture/bleeding patients at all hours. I also have residents to help me with sections and major gyn cases. I do all my vag deliveries and minor cases by myself. When I'm on call and I don't have a patient on pit or in active labor - I'm home in bed with the occasional page.

Life as a resident was horrible - because it was residency. I work very hard and often find myself working late to call patients, slug through labs, sonos and other paperwork. But it is different somehow, because these really are my patients.

As for lifestyle, I'm starting to settle in enough to consider doing more than hang out with my kids, do laundry and cook dinner. It was a very hard learning curve the past 4 months, but it is getting better. So really, ignore all the lifestyle BS - residency will be miserable regardless. And there are so many ways to set up a job, you can figure out what you need and want. If you love OB/Gyn like I do... go for it!

 

[OBGirlie]

So what is "real life" like?

I am now an attending (6 mo out of residency) in a 4 person, hospital-owned practice. I take 24 hr call one weekday a week and every fourth weekend. This means one morning a week in OR, one day on L&D, two full days and two half days in the office. So... lots of clinic; therefore less flexibility with my hours during the day. My calls are from home and I do have the benefit of an MD-run triage to see my rule out labor/rupture/bleeding patients at all hours. I also have residents to help me with sections and major gyn cases. I do all my vag deliveries and minor cases by myself. When I'm on call and I don't have a patient on pit or in active labor - I'm home in bed with the occasional page.

Life as a resident was horrible - because it was residency. I work very hard and often find myself working late to call patients, slug through labs, sonos and other paperwork. But it is different somehow, because these really are my patients.

As for lifestyle, I'm starting to settle in enough to consider doing more than hang out with my kids, do laundry and cook dinner. It was a very hard learning curve the past 4 months, but it is getting better. So really, ignore all the lifestyle BS - residency will be miserable regardless. And there are so many ways to set up a job, you can figure out what you need and want. If you love OB/Gyn like I do... go for it!

Yay!!! (Singing)"Did you ever know you were my hero. . ."

 

[Doctor Caramel]

Thanks for sharing your experience. It's nice to hear from someone who has "been there, done that."