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Do you think women have an easier time matching in urology? For any women urologists out there, what attracted you most to the field? Do you feel women are treated any differently during residency?
women in urology
- Thread starter eilis721
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Like any other branch, it has its ups and downs. Usually the hours are soft, especially during clinic months - you can't beat it. But when it's hard, you get screwed.
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You probably won't get too many responses on this, since there's such a small amount of female urologists out there. As a femal general surgery resident, I think I can answer some of your questions with some perspective on it.
Yes, I do think you might get a slight advantage in the match if programs are looking to add a token female resident to get some diversity. However, you still are going to need to be a very competetive candidate - I can't see someone with a barely passing board score, bottom of their med school class, and no research matching just b/c she's a woman.
I don't know what attracts people to this field really, except that you get to be a surgeon with better hours than most other surgeons. If I understood the interest in urolgoy I guess I'd be doing it.
I don't think you're treated too differently as a woman in surgery. Yes, your fellow residents might seem to live in fear of the day you might get pregnant and put some stress on their coverage of the call schedule, but most guys these days are pretty supportive of working alonside women and would never speak this fear aloud. We are a generation of people who grew up with working moms, so you'll find that most men in the residency age group are okay with women doing the same job they do.
Patients often will assume you are a nurse, but this is probably true for most fields of medicine except peds and ob, so we just have to get used to correcting patients on this once in a while. A very select few male patients may be uncomfortable with you examining them in urology, but this happens extremely infrequently (I did once have a male patient ask for something to relax before I palpated his varicoceole b/c he was worried he'd have an erection - please! there have been male GYNs for years and I don't think any women get excited when they touch us down there!) Most male patients understand that a medical exam is a medical exam no matter who the doctor is. Plus, think of all the females and kids with urology problems who actually might have a strong preference for a female doctor - there certainly is a market for female surgeons of all types.
Yes, I do think you might get a slight advantage in the match if programs are looking to add a token female resident to get some diversity. However, you still are going to need to be a very competetive candidate - I can't see someone with a barely passing board score, bottom of their med school class, and no research matching just b/c she's a woman.
I don't know what attracts people to this field really, except that you get to be a surgeon with better hours than most other surgeons. If I understood the interest in urolgoy I guess I'd be doing it.
I don't think you're treated too differently as a woman in surgery. Yes, your fellow residents might seem to live in fear of the day you might get pregnant and put some stress on their coverage of the call schedule, but most guys these days are pretty supportive of working alonside women and would never speak this fear aloud. We are a generation of people who grew up with working moms, so you'll find that most men in the residency age group are okay with women doing the same job they do.
Patients often will assume you are a nurse, but this is probably true for most fields of medicine except peds and ob, so we just have to get used to correcting patients on this once in a while. A very select few male patients may be uncomfortable with you examining them in urology, but this happens extremely infrequently (I did once have a male patient ask for something to relax before I palpated his varicoceole b/c he was worried he'd have an erection - please! there have been male GYNs for years and I don't think any women get excited when they touch us down there!) Most male patients understand that a medical exam is a medical exam no matter who the doctor is. Plus, think of all the females and kids with urology problems who actually might have a strong preference for a female doctor - there certainly is a market for female surgeons of all types.
