OB, the worst 4 weeks of medschool

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I don't know that I've ever been so miserable in my life. It takes 100% of my will to keep from deserting midday.
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surebreC said:
I don't know that I've ever been so miserable in my life. It takes 100% of my will to keep from deserting midday.
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:( Sorry to hear that.

What service are you on? And what's so bad about it - the patients, the attendings, the residents, or everything?
 
I would love just 4 weeks of OB, try 6 weeks of hell.
 
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We do 8 weeks at my school.

I'm just finishing up week 1/8. It's OK so far IMHO.
 
OB-GYN was the most miserable 4 weeks I've ever experienced in my life. Even if I get a chance to go to Ranger School, I don't think I'll be able change the above statement in good conscience regardless! :laugh:
 
8 weeks too here baby. The horror...the horror.
 
Just survive; don't worry about making nice or impressing anyone. In the words of my academic advisor from medical school: "the only people that care about your OB/GYN grade are the OB/GYNs."
 
I'm going to start OB/gyn soon, and I'm not particularly looking forward to it either. Other than just surviving and learning as much as possible, any specific survival tips or words of wisdom from those of you who are already in the thick of it? Good books that you would recommend? (I was planning to use Case Files.) My goal is just to pass and not have to repeat the rotation. :p
 
3 weeks of OB + 3 weeks of Gyn for me.

Gyn wasnt bad at all. Most of the surgeries I did were much more interesting than an appy or chole.

OB was a horror show
 
QofQuimica said:
I'm going to start OB/gyn soon, and I'm not particularly looking forward to it either. Other than just surviving and learning as much as possible, any specific survival tips or words of wisdom from those of you who are already in the thick of it? Good books that you would recommend? (I was planning to use Case Files.) My goal is just to pass and not have to repeat the rotation. :p
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OB/GYN (its subspecialties nonwithstanding) is a very straightforward field. So your goal isn't to know a lot of esoteric knowledge, just know the basic stuff COLD. So basically, if you have everything in Casefiles or blueprints locked down, you're good to go.
 
QofQuimica said:
I'm going to start OB/gyn soon, and I'm not particularly looking forward to it either. Other than just surviving and learning as much as possible, any specific survival tips or words of wisdom from those of you who are already in the thick of it?
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The 3 rotations where people tend to get dinged if they show a palpable lack of interest in the field is surgery, OB/gyn, and peds. (Although I will say, for the record, that peds is the ONLY rotation where the resident clearly lowered people's grades because they did not want to do peds. :mad:)

That being said, enthusiasm and willingness to learn may carry you a long way. I think that students on OB tend to be sort of "squeamish" and fearful. "What if I drop the baby??!!!" "That stuff coming out looks SOOO gross!" "I can't believe I'm going to examine this woman's vagina! That's disgusting!" None of this stuff tends to go over well, if you couldn't already guess. :laugh: Just by showing that none of this stuff fazes you, you will make a good impression on the attendings and the residents.

Some people really hate their OB/gyn rotations because they can't stand the stereotypical female behavior that you find among residents. It's a heavily female-dominated field, and some places have residents that are more "girly" than others. <shrug> It's definitely not this way everywhere, though, and you don't have to participate (or even really listen to it). And, again for the record, my peds rotation was MUCH worse in this regard.

L&D is hard because it's like a 3-ring circus - sometimes you'll have an urgent patient roll into triage, while someone else is going to deliver, AND while someone else is being prepped for a c-section. And sometimes students will get yelled at for going to one thing while the residents wanted them to go to something else. There's nothing wrong with just asking the senior resident, "There are three things going on, and I don't know which to go to. What do you think?" If it does happen, either let it roll of your back, or just calmly explain where you were....but that if they make it clear that they'd rather that you see X instead of Y, then you'll do that next time.

Finally, I read elsewhere that you're interested in anesthesia? Then OB/gyn will be a great rotation for you to see. Anesthesiologists have a strong relationship with OB, and many of the threads in the gas forums related to OB cases. (Like, for instance, what kind of anesthesia to use for a woman who comes into the ER needing a c-section RIGHT NOW?) Learning about epidurals (which anesthesiologists manage), spinal anesthesia, nerve blocks, etc., are all things that are closely related to anesthesia. Volunteering to do a presentation on how different narcotics interact with pregnant women can also make a good impression.

Good luck. :luck:
 
I enjoyed surgery, so I'm less worried about that part. I also don't really care about the disgustingness aspect of it. Surgery and path are pretty gross too, but I still liked them. Hey, that's why the hospital gives us scrubs and locker rooms with showers. :)

smq, I think you are right that the general environment is what I'm not looking forward to. That, and I'm not the kind of person who goes all gaga over babies. But I like your idea about focusing on the epidurals and meds; that really would be a good way to play to my strengths. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
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QofQuimica said:
I think you are right that the general environment is what I'm not looking forward to.
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Well, not all places are like that. My school's rotation wasn't like that - it was remarkably UNgirly, which I liked. Some of the big-name programs (Magee at Pittsburgh, UNC, Hopkins, etc.) aren't either.

Plus, if you rotate at a smaller community hospital, you may not even HAVE residents around. Some places just have OB/gyn attendings (who tend to be older men) and family med residents. So it may not even be an issue for you.

QofQuimica said:
That, and I'm not the kind of person who goes all gaga over babies.
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:laugh: I'm not either. I think babies are cute (I liked looking at them while they were getting cleaned up) and I liked taking care of kids on my peds rotation, but I was definitely more interested in taking care of the mom. A lot of times, in the adrenaline-rush of the moment, I'd forget to look and see what gender the kid was! :oops:
 
about going gaga over babies. I dont think that this was in the forefront of the culture of the housestaff and attendings. On that contrary, a termination of pregnancy was a daily issue - whether to save the mothers life, or electively. Also, delivering babies to mothers who had no (financial) support structure and/or didnt want the baby... yeah, not so cute.

Im not saying that you have to hate babies to do this rotation or specialty. The docs I trained with are definitely more involved with the beginings of life than the end of it. But one definitely has to keep things in perspective.
 
howelljolly said:
3 weeks of OB + 3 weeks of Gyn for me.

Gyn wasnt bad at all. Most of the surgeries I did were much more interesting than an appy or chole.

OB was a horror show
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That was my exact experience. I liked Gyn and oupatient clinic but hated OB with all that is within me. It was the bane of my existance.

I think if I had been in a different program or was a OB/GYN doctor, I would like it a lot more than I did because most of the things I hated about my 3 weeks of OB were either program specific or things I wouldn't deal with much as an obstetrician.

But it doesn't really matter because I don't like the lifestyle so its not a field that I'm the least bit interested in.
 
I am having a blast. I am at a small community hospital that has a very positive atmosphere. My last rotation (peds) was the one from hell, and it was because of the hospital rather than the specialty or even the department. I have learned to select my sites more carefully...

Of course, maybe it's because I'm a closet OB-wanna-be? I used to want to do it and changed my mind only because of the litigation issue and the lifestyle. 4 weeks of OB is a pleasure for me.
 
It seemed that the gyn residents were incredibly miserable and took it out on certain students. All of us had someone different we hated! I'm so glad I'm done with all that...gluck to the rest of yall!
 
Old_Mil said:
Tacrum, that might be the nicest thing I've ever heard anyone say about an OB rotation.
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:D Well, I've only had one week of gynecology so far...so...

I have night float starting tonight. We'll see how that goes.
 
Old_Mil said:
Tacrum, that might be the nicest thing I've ever heard anyone say about an OB rotation.
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For those reading this thread who haven't had OB/GYN yet, don't let this phase you. Like anything else, it's entirely dependent on your school. I had a great time in my clerkship even though I had zero interest in going into the field. At my school, the OB/GYN clerkship usually has the second highest approval ratings from students (after IM), and there are 13 individuals in my M4 class who are going into it for residency.

Also, if anyone (resident or attending) is deliberately lowering grades because you don't want to enter their field, that's BS and needs to be reported to the school administration.
 
I envy you four weekers out there. I would be 1/4 done now if that were the case. Even though I am doing my OB rotation under FM folks, I still really don't like it, even though it is low stress.

Having never seen a vaginal delivery before, the only way I can describe it is shock and awe.

I think my biggest issue is the limited scope of this field. There are hardly ever any diagnostic challenges which I thrive on. You are either pregnant or not pregnant, and if you are pregnant, you are high risk or not.

I actually like Gyn better. At least there is some investigative aspects to that. And it feels more like real medicine and less like midwifery. :laugh:
 
QofQuimica said:
I'm going to start OB/gyn soon, and I'm not particularly looking forward to it either. Other than just surviving and learning as much as possible, any specific survival tips or words of wisdom from those of you who are already in the thick of it? Good books that you would recommend? (I was planning to use Case Files.) My goal is just to pass and not have to repeat the rotation. :p
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My big piece of advice is that OB people are a little sensitive about their field, so enthusiasm goes a long way here. It's not like you have to say you won't to do OB, but try to avoid seeming bored or uninterested.
 
jbp100 said:
I think my biggest issue is the limited scope of this field. There are hardly ever any diagnostic challenges which I thrive on. You are either pregnant or not pregnant, and if you are pregnant, you are high risk or not.

I actually like Gyn better. At least there is some investigative aspects to that. And it feels more like real medicine and less like midwifery. :laugh:
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One of the things that I really liked about Gyn was the broad, almost complete, scope of care. They handle everything themselves, from preventative primary care, to total medical management... and if the patient fails medical management, or needs surgery, they take the patient to the OR themselves.
And the common etiologies were anatomical, infectious, endocrine, or neoplastic... but they never needed to consult surgery, ID, endo, or onc.
 
QofQuimica said:
I enjoyed surgery, so I'm less worried about that part. I also don't really care about the disgustingness aspect of it. Surgery and path are pretty gross too, but I still liked them. Hey, that's why the hospital gives us scrubs and locker rooms with showers. :)

smq, I think you are right that the general environment is what I'm not looking forward to. That, and I'm not the kind of person who goes all gaga over babies. But I like your idea about focusing on the epidurals and meds; that really would be a good way to play to my strengths. Thanks for the suggestion.
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One of my classmates is also interested in Anes, and he just found the MDA or CRNA and stuck to them like glue. He had a relatively great time. And by great time, I mean he didn't want to claw both his eyes out. Just one of them.

howelljolly said:
One of the things that I really liked about Gyn was the broad, almost complete, scope of care...
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Yeah, they try to take care of the "entire" person. That person being a woman. :laugh: Actually, most of my clinic pts had both an internist and a gynecologist. If you mean that they do both inpt and outpt care, as well as surgery, then I agree.

I had 3 wks of Gyn and then 3 wks of OB. For the surgery nerds out there, try to get into Gyn-Onc cases. You'll see the most anatomy and the most pathology. Bread and butter cases are hysterectomies. Get comfortable with sterile technique and scrubbing in, if you haven't done surgery yet. Get comfortable with pelvic exams.

For OB...just try to not kill anyone. I endured unprovoked screaming and cursing from my residents every morning for all 3 wks. :rolleyes: I was just glad when it was over.
 
i think general surgery might be the worst 4 weeks of my med school experience. we do not have surg residents here and its just me and my attending...who happens to hate everyone and everything. she is a very unhappy person and i feel a little sorry for her because something must have made her this way.

but today was my first day and i have seen more nastiness (towards me, nurses, surg techs, random passers-by) today than my 24 weeks of other rotations combined. i'm just going to try to be quiet and polite and do my work well.

only 24 more days...
 
OB/GYN is pure evil, and pregnant women are satan's spawn.... Those 6 weeks of hell were horrible. GO ECLAMPSIA GO!

OB/GYN gave me the courage to not do residency and get out of medicine... only 58 weeks and 3 days left.
 
RxnMan said:
Yeah, they try to take care of the "entire" person. That person being a woman. :laugh:
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Oh, yeah. Our OB/GYN course director has given a few talks to our entire class about various topics, and even when he's not specifically talking about OB/GYN, he can't help but refer to all patients as "she."
 
drdr2010 said:
...but today was my first day and i have seen more nastiness (towards me, nurses, surg techs, random passers-by) today than my 24 weeks of other rotations combined. i'm just going to try to be quiet and polite and do my work well.

only 24 more days...
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But you can at least take some comfort in the fact that you and all the staff are in the same boat, and you all can make fun of the attending's nastiness (or at least acknowledge it) when the attending's not around.

On my OB rotation, everyone dumped on the students. Residents, nurses, and techs all made it clear that students were not welcome. Except nursing students, they were fine. Even the weird ones. Random true story from OB:

I'm standing at the board, in between labor checks on my patients. The nursing educator comes up to the nursing sup and asks if one of her students can sit in on a delivery. Nursing sup says sure and happens to assign the guy to one of my patients. Nurse educator says "Now, this guy is a little weird. His classmates have told me he says whatever he thinks of when he's around patients. Just tell me if he offends anyone and I'll get him out of there." Nursing sup says fine, and the student is shown to the pt (Note I had to plead in order to get in on the same delivery :mad:).

Time passes, it's almost noon, and I do my check. Pt is 15y/o primi and in stage 1 labor. Mom anxiously cuts in and says "The doctor said this baby would be delivered and then we'd have lunch. I tell her "Your daughter is doing fine and progressing well. Labor takes time, and it's not like ordering a pizza where you know it will happen by a certain time."

Weird nursing student says "Yeah, hold the anchovies." :eek: :confused:

Time passes, and the pt has nearly delivered the head, but she's getting tired. Between contractions, to give the pt some motivation, the RN guides the pt's hand down so that she can feel the baby's head crowning. As the pt's hand touches the baby's head:

Weird nursing student says "Oh yeah, that's sweet." :barf::wow:

TheProwler said:
Oh, yeah. Our OB/GYN course director has given a few talks to our entire class about various topics, and even when he's not specifically talking about OB/GYN, he can't help but refer to all patients as "she."
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Well, in English, the indefinite is feminine, so he is correct. :smuggrin:

But I get what you mean - they get tunnel vision. So nobody should believe the hype about "treating the whole person," in any speciality.
 
RxnMan said:
I remember being told that, when unsure of gender, it was more proper to use a feminine singular possessive pronoun. Nowadays everyone uses "their" instead.

EDIT: Looks like I was taught by a bunch of feminists! :laugh:
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Most definitely. The default is always HE, unless you're talking about a group with specific gender guidelines - waitresses, WNBA players, obstetric patients (er, scratch that), etc.
 
Yeah, that's why I was wondering.

I was taught that for the singular indefinite you use "he." "Their" is plural and incorrect. It was taught that whereas "he" as a singular was correct gramatically, it was sexist, so occasionally I would use "he or she," although it sounds a bit clunky when you're going for more elegant or casual writing. But "she" as the default is definitely feminist crap.
 
yeah, this is a very 'girly' field for sure

funny, but because even though i am the epitome of tomboy, i appear very girly (pony tail bouncing, short, skinny, perky, manicured nails, makeup done nicely, soft voice)and therefore was treated very very well, even though i didn't give 2 ****s about babies, having babies, examining the nasty part of the body the babies come from,,,,and all that gross stuff.

i almost failed my shelf....but HEY! i'm a cute "girly girl" so i got an 82 in the end because of my outstanding clinical evals--not kidding.

funny how the wards are.

i also witnessed many competent, nice, gentle fabulous male classmates get treated like ****, and i believe its because they didn't possess these qualities.

such bull****
 
lil pook said:
yeah, this is a very 'girly' field for sure

funny, but because even though i am the epitome of tomboy, i appear very girly (pony tail bouncing, short, skinny, perky, manicured nails, makeup done nicely, soft voice)and therefore was treated very very well, even though i didn't give 2 ****s about babies, having babies, examining the nasty part of the body the babies come from,,,,and all that gross stuff.

i almost failed my shelf....but HEY! i'm a cute "girly girl" so i got an 82 in the end because of my outstanding clinical evals--not kidding.

funny how the wards are.

i also witnessed many competent, nice, gentle fabulous male classmates get treated like ****, and i believe its because they didn't possess these qualities.

such bull****
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/agree.

I did everything humanly possible on my ob-gyn rotation to make the attending's and her nurse's lives easier, but still ended up getting stepped on/ridiculed/harassed. The best part was listening to them speak some viciously anti-male rhetoric in front of me, and knowing I couldn't say a damn thing about it without compromising my grade. I even baked a pie for her staff the day before Christmas as a goodwill gesture, and didn't get so much as a "thank you."

In the end, it's best to just get through it and never look back. I speculate that particular OB-GYN was miserable because she didn't have stats to get into a better-paying/more respected/lifestyle-oriented specialty. Now, she's forever damned to stare into the abyss... and baby, does it stare BACK! :laugh:
 
colbgw02 said:
Just survive; don't worry about making nice or impressing anyone. In the words of my academic advisor from medical school: "the only people that care about your OB/GYN grade are the OB/GYNs."
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Yeah, stay below the radar and pretend like you care what that fetal HR monitor is doing.

med students, welcome to gyne surgery. Here is your job:
symplifying.gif
 
indo said:
Yeah, stay below the radar and pretend like you care what that fetal HR monitor is doing.

med students, welcome to gyne surgery. Here is your job:
symplifying.gif
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I just started my gyn rotation and that was the first thing they made me do!!! I laughed so hard when I saw this.
 
haha,

and what exactly is that device called

and what does it do?

goes to show how much i learned on that rotation
 
That is called a RUMI manipulator. ugg. The little cup over the cervix is called a "Koh cup" and I had the luxury of using the RUMI for Dr. Koh.

It is used to elevate or depress the uterus during laparoscpic surgeries.
 
I actually went into OB expecting to hate it-loved the job, loved the fellowships available, liked GYn. I HATED the residents. It literally got to the point that I was flat out going over their head to attendings for questions because they made the med students fell unwelcome. I was their to learn and they were against teaching. It probably hurt me as far as my chances to match at that place (not that I care) but I found out if I could like the job in spite of those people it was good. Oh and if you just want to get through it with minimal hassle lay low, they do seem to have a huge inferiority complex, but one of my classmates managed to hide for 75% of our time there-he got better resident reviews then I did. He also didn't go to GYn surgery for 2 days b/c "he couldn't find the OR" and would go to eat whenever one of his patients was complete, so he went 8 weeks without delivering a single baby.
 
indo said:
that is called a rumi manipulator. Ugg. The little cup over the cervix is called a "koh cup" and i had the luxury of using the rumi for dr. Koh.

It is used to elevate or depress the uterus during laparoscpic surgeries.
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nasty
 
hooperg said:
/agree.

I did everything humanly possible on my ob-gyn rotation to make the attending's and her nurse's lives easier, but still ended up getting stepped on/ridiculed/harassed. The best part was listening to them speak some viciously anti-male rhetoric in front of me, and knowing I couldn't say a damn thing about it without compromising my grade. I even baked a pie for her staff the day before Christmas as a goodwill gesture, and didn't get so much as a "thank you."

In the end, it's best to just get through it and never look back. I speculate that particular OB-GYN was miserable because she didn't have stats to get into a better-paying/more respected/lifestyle-oriented specialty. Now, she's forever damned to stare into the abyss... and baby, does it stare BACK! :laugh:
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dude...see, that's the kind of crap that pisses me off...

found this online..it's about workplace bullying which is being increasingly recognized and penalized

•
Unwarranted or invalid criticism.
•
Blame without factual justification.
•
Being treated differently than the rest of your work group.
•
Being sworn at.
•
Exclusion or social isolation.
•
Being shouted at or being humiliated.
•
Being the target of practical jokes.
•
Excessive monitoring.

wow..kinda sounds like surgery or OB/gyn, or for that matter, all of 3rd year, huh?
 
I went 6 of OB/VAG and 4 of family med without delivering a baby. This was because there were new Interns, new nurse midwifes, and because I could make anyone stop delivering and require a c-section just by talking to them.
 
that was hilarious
 
There is truly nothing more awkward, laboring, painful, or soul-destroying than ob/gyn. I never thought I'd experience a rotation I actually hate...and then along came ob/gyn. I'm just thankful it's only 4 total weeks.
 
I actually had a pretty good time in OB/GYN because my attending was great. A tiny little Asian man who constantly made bad jokes but let me first assist on pretty much everything. Yes, my main job was to use the retractors or "drive the uterus" but I think he made it worth it. I did, however, have a bad experience with another doctor who attempted every day to belittle me with sidelong comments and harsh criticism. Since he had no control over my grade I got him back one day:

Doctor: (asking some pointless pimp question)
Me: "I don't know...its not X...but I really can't remember..."
Doctor: "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, not X huh?? Tell me about X...where does X come from, huh? What is the nerve supply of X? Man you must like getting stuff wrong don't you??"
Me: "Doesn't really bother me, that is why I am standing here because I don't know everything."
Doctor: "Where would you be standing if you knew everything then??"
Me: "Well, where you are. Don't YOU know everything?"
Doctor: (no response)
My attending: (laughing his ass off).
 
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