Why don't as many people go into OBGYN?

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goofball said:
God Tier: Plastics, Vascular Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Radiology.

Tier 1: Radiation Oncology, Ophthamology, Neurosurgery, Urology, General Surgery (and subspecialties), Anesthesiology,

Tier 2: Family Practice, Emergency Medicine, Pathology, Dermatology (surprisingly low), Internal Medicine (Card/Gastro are Tier 1 I think), PM+R,

Tier 3: Pediatrics (exact prestige level depends on money I think), OB/GYN, Psychiatry
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hahahahahah this is epic. :laugh:
 
I feel like asking what community you are referring to might spark controversy, and you don't have to disclose that. However, I'm curious why a "community" would care about some random person's career choice. Do you feel they will shun you away forever despite you being happy and making a good living?
 
First of all, I forgot Neurology. Sorry 🙁


oldbearprofessor said:
😍😍

Thanks for sharing with us. Please, do stay away from pediatrics as no one will ever respect you for caring for sick children.😉
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I already said that I don't buy into this crap. But unfortunately, I'm not the only stakeholder here. I am accountable to both my community and my parents (who are bankrolling a large part of the ridiculously expensive med school tuition).

It's common for the government to fund med school tuition on the stipulation that you either serve in a rural area or serve in the army. Why should it be such a bad thing for your family to fund med school tuition on the stipulation that you don't enter a "low prestige" field?


My parents have repeatedly said they don't care what I specialize in as long as I don't go into Peds, OB/GYN, or Psych. I have reason (and experience) to believe that this attitude also exists throughout my extended community.


So really, it's no big deal, I'm just locked out of those three specialties and their subspecializations. Not the end of the world.





KnuxNole said:
I feel like asking what community you are referring to might spark controversy, and you don't have to disclose that. However, I'm curious why a "community" would care about some random person's career choice. Do you feel they will shun you away forever despite you being happy and making a good living?
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I'd rather not disclose the community here, except to say that it is a fairly large ethnic group. I don't want to start a fight or hurt anyone's feelings.

They wouldn't shun anyone. I would just get subtly dissed a a lot.
 
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goofball said:
Disclaimer: I don't buy into any of this nonsense.

My family's (and larger community's) perspective. This list was gleaned through many, many boring conversations with med student families and other randoms who think I should have decided my career before entering med school.

I'll revise this list as I remember some other specialties. In each tier, list is in rough descending order from left to right.


God Tier: Plastics, Vascular Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Radiology.

Tier 1: Radiation Oncology, Ophthamology, Neurosurgery, Urology, General Surgery (and subspecialties), Anesthesiology,

Tier 2: Family Practice, Emergency Medicine, Pathology, Dermatology (surprisingly low), Internal Medicine (Card/Gastro are Tier 1 I think), PM+R,

Tier 3: Pediatrics (exact prestige level depends on money I think), OB/GYN, Psychiatry
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what is dis? there are so many things wrong with this list....:uhno:

Do your parents even rank?

Edit- lel. never mind. 😀
 
Pons Asinorum said:
My mistake. He trollin.
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I still don't understand what "trolling" is. From my inference, it seems that "trolling" refers to the deliberate attempt to elicit a negative reaction.

While I can see how my posts my have elicited a negative reaction, I repeatedly disclaimed that I don't believe in that crap, and how I'm only buying into the paradigm because I'm accountable to my parents for monetary reason, much as one of you would be accountable to the government for NHSC money.
 
circulus vitios said:
Because pregnant women are grotesque.
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Eh, I agree with that, but I've heard of OB/GYNs dealing with yet more gross stuff, like patients with a green vaginal discharge, patients who shoved hamsters up their vagina, etc.

Then again, I guess you'll be seeing gross stuff in any medical career.
 
Being interested in practicing Family medicine in a rural underserved area, I have read a few biographies of rural U.S. and international physicians and almost all of them enumerate the wide range of obstetric and gynecological issues they treat; in addition to the most obvious, child birthing. A coworker of mine at a volunteer facility has a sibling who is a physician. He/she apparently started out in OB/GYN, but moved on after a bad C-section; the work is definitely fascinating, but it can be hard constantly dealing with something as chaotic as child birth. If you are concerned about OB/GYN going downhill as a specialty or are trying to decide on a profession you can always browse the OB/GYN resident/physician forum; also, do not forget that there is always the male reproductive system - Urology.

Also, I do not mean to "hi-jack", but while we are kind of on the subject of prestige in specialties, where does Nephrology stand? I hear a lot about its competiveness outside of this website, but I have never really seen it mentioned here.
 
goofball said:
Well, in a few months I will be one of those students, so...

Look, nobody goes into medicine because they JUST want to "help people," and nobody does it because they JUST want an upper middle class income. We all have a variety of reasons for entering medicine.

For me, one of those reasons is prestige. Actually, it's a pretty big reason as far as I'm concerned. Being a physician is already a prestigious profession, but I want to enter a specialty that will bring honor to me and my family. Something like a ROAD specialty or a selective surgical specialty is the best choice here, but there are other good options (family practice is a surprisingly prestigious field as well as far as my family/community/self are concerned).

If I chose OB/GYN, I would constantly have to answer questions about why I was doing "woman's work" rather than a "man's job," whatever that's supposed to be. Do I believe any of that garbage? Hell no.


But the way it works is that I am accountable not only to myself, but to my family and my community. If they think that OB/GYN is not suitable for me, then I defer to their judgment.
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And now I thank God that I am a first generation college grad... My parents were ecstatic to see my graduate from college, much less get into medical school. Seriously though, despite me wanting to react negatively to this initially... I feel for you. I can't imagine feeling like even after getting into medical school that if I did a certain speciality, my parents wouldn't really look highly on it.


goofball said:
Disclaimer: I don't buy into any of this nonsense.

My family's (and larger community's) perspective. This list was gleaned through many, many boring conversations with med student families and other randoms who think I should have decided my career before entering med school.

I'll revise this list as I remember some other specialties. In each tier, list is in rough descending order from left to right.


God Tier: Plastics, Vascular Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Radiology.

Tier 1: Radiation Oncology, Ophthamology, Neurosurgery, Urology, General Surgery (and subspecialties), Anesthesiology,

Tier 2: Family Practice, Emergency Medicine, Pathology, Dermatology (surprisingly low), Internal Medicine (Card/Gastro are Tier 1 I think), PM+R,

Tier 3: Pediatrics (exact prestige level depends on money I think), OB/GYN, Psychiatry
Click to expand...

So adult cardiology is tier 1 but pediatric cardiology is... what? Tier 3? Does my combination of being interested in pediatrics and infectious disease (a gross, disgusting speciality) get me bumped to a new Tier 4?

This list is also sort of ridiculous in my opinion because I don't believe prestige should come from "this field is better than this one", but from what you contribute to and accomplish within that field.
 
sinombre said:
goofball really is one of the better trolls I've seen in a while.
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Pons Asinorum said:
I actually don't think he b trollin. If he is, at least it's pretty artful.
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goofball said:
I don't understand, what is "trolling"?
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Pons Asinorum said:
My mistake. He trollin.
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Regardless of whether goofball is trolling or not...the timing of that exchange was impeccable. 👍

To the OP: There are probably a number of reasons why some choose to pass over OB/GYN, but certainly having one of the (potentially) worst malpractice environments in medicine might be an important factor.
 
Just an observation... most of those people playing the malpractice cards are "premedical." Unless you're working in a solo private practice, which most people do not, you're not going to be paying malpractice premiums OOP. If you're working in a private, but multiple doctor practice, you're not going to be paying OOP either, rather it will be taken "off the top" from your grand earnings. It's not like your $500,000 salary is having $250,000 being taken away from it.

For those that like obstetrical/prenatal stuff/gyn care family medicine allows you to incorporate everything from non-complicated deliveries to paps. You, of course, have to be flexible with practice location (doing SVDs) or join an academic setting.

That said, I don't know many FM docs that deliver into their older decades.
 
sinombre said:
Calling your bluff again. If you're male they're supposed to ask you to leave the room if you don't have to be there (e.g. unless you're a med student/resident).
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Darn it... man you guys know me too well. 👎thumbdown
 
HSUReddie said:
And now I thank God that I am a first generation college grad... My parents were ecstatic to see my graduate from college, much less get into medical school. Seriously though, despite me wanting to react negatively to this initially... I feel for you. I can't imagine feeling like even after getting into medical school that if I did a certain speciality, my parents wouldn't really look highly on it.
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When you accept money from people, specifically, 300K+ of money, you can't piss off your creditors.

My parents are gifting me a large sum of money for my medical education, so my loans will be minimal.

In return, they demand that I abstain from choosing Pediatrics, OB/GYN, and Psychiatry. If I go against their wishes, they'll probably disinherit me, so...

It's not much different from someone taking NHSC or whatever money from the government and being forced to do rural primary care or whatever, haha. Either way, you get to save money, but it comes with strings. Everything comes with strings.


So adult cardiology is tier 1 but pediatric cardiology is... what? Tier 3? Does my combination of being interested in pediatrics and infectious disease (a gross, disgusting speciality) get me bumped to a new Tier 4?
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Nah, ped cards, neonatology, etc would be considered quite prestigious because they are competitive and pay well.

This list is also sort of ridiculous in my opinion because I don't believe prestige should come from "this field is better than this one", but from what you contribute to and accomplish within that field.
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I don't make the rules here.
 
To the OP: less than 1% of Obgyn residency spots went unfilled in the initial match and anecdotally I've heard they all filled during SOAP, so as many people went into Obgyn this year as the current system can handle training.

Are you asking why obgyn isn't so popular that tons of people are failing to match into it?

One other thing I haven't seen mentioned here is that Obgyn is a blend of both medicine and surgery. While this is frequently seen as a positive by people going into the field, for many other people the OR is a love/hate type thing and many people either want to always be in the OR or never be there and Obgyn doesn't allow either extreme during training.
 
The number of trolls in this thread is too damn high

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mdpdgirl said:
To the OP: less than 1% of Obgyn residency spots went unfilled in the initial match and anecdotally I've heard they all filled during SOAP, so as many people went into Obgyn this year as the current system can handle training.

Are you asking why obgyn isn't so popular that tons of people are failing to match into it?

One other thing I haven't seen mentioned here is that Obgyn is a blend of both medicine and surgery. While this is frequently seen as a positive by people going into the field, for many other people the OR is a love/hate type thing and many people either want to always be in the OR or never be there and Obgyn doesn't allow either extreme during training.
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On the other hand there were 6 applicants for each Vascular Surgery spot in this year's match, similar to many other competitive specialties. Simply filling doesn't really mean much in the match.
 
goofball said:
First of all, I forgot Neurology. Sorry 🙁




I already said that I don't buy into this crap. But unfortunately, I'm not the only stakeholder here. I am accountable to both my community and my parents (who are bankrolling a large part of the ridiculously expensive med school tuition).

It's common for the government to fund med school tuition on the stipulation that you either serve in a rural area or serve in the army. Why should it be such a bad thing for your family to fund med school tuition on the stipulation that you don't enter a "low prestige" field?


My parents have repeatedly said they don't care what I specialize in as long as I don't go into Peds, OB/GYN, or Psych. I have reason (and experience) to believe that this attitude also exists throughout my extended community.


So really, it's no big deal, I'm just locked out of those three specialties and their subspecializations. Not the end of the world.







I'd rather not disclose the community here, except to say that it is a fairly large ethnic group. I don't want to start a fight or hurt anyone's feelings.

They wouldn't shun anyone. I would just get subtly dissed a a lot.
Click to expand...

What rank is neurology?!? Does your community respect it?? I need to know so I can decide whether to go into it or not!!
 
sinombre said:
Oh interesting. Do you think this varies by location (i.e. are you more likely to get to do more in a poorer area)?
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Absolutely, in my experience. I did my entire 8 weeks of OB/Gyn at the county hospital, and was only asked to step out for an exam twice (both patients were members of the same religion).
 
RuralPhysician8 said:
Also, I do not mean to "hi-jack", but while we are kind of on the subject of prestige in specialties, where does Nephrology stand? I hear a lot about its competiveness outside of this website, but I have never really seen it mentioned here.
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I think that this thread was well-hijacked before you asked this.

On the topic of prestige in nephrology, that depends on who you are talking about.

From the public in general, I'd say that nephrology is no more or less prestigious than physicians in general, largely because the public has no idea what nephrologists do.

On the other hand, nephrologists tend to be well-respected because they have a strong grasp of concepts that most other physicians struggle with--the renal classes in medical school tend to be considered among the hardest conceptually. Nephrologists have the reputation among physicians of being some of the smartest in the hospital.
 
High Malpractice
High Lawsuit Rate (Especially for males)
 
goofball said:
I still don't understand what "trolling" is. From my inference, it seems that "trolling" refers to the deliberate attempt to elicit a negative reaction.

While I can see how my posts my have elicited a negative reaction, I repeatedly disclaimed that I don't believe in that crap, and how I'm only buying into the paradigm because I'm accountable to my parents for monetary reason, much as one of you would be accountable to the government for NHSC money.
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Come on. First rule of trolling is you can't pretend you don't know what it is. You were doing so well too.
 
touchpause13 said:
What's up with the vagina hate? I think vaginas are awesome

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SDN is aware of this at this point
mimelim said:
Pros:
Reasonable lifestyle
Historically understanding of wanting to have kids
Can be fairly surgically oriented via Gyn Onc
Offers clinic/procedure balance
Relatively young, healthy population that is happy about why they are in the hospital

Cons:
High malpractice insurance
High rates of lawsuits
Limited variability in patient population

Off the top of my head...
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Added to pros: strong patient relationships. My mother would kill for the OB that delivered myself and my brother.

Added to cons: generally not awesome hours.
 
goofball said:
Disclaimer: I don't buy into any of this nonsense.

My family's (and larger community's) perspective. This list was gleaned through many, many boring conversations with med student families and other randoms who think I should have decided my career before entering med school.

I'll revise this list as I remember some other specialties. In each tier, list is in rough descending order from left to right.


God Tier: Plastics, Vascular Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Radiology.

Tier 1: Radiation Oncology, Ophthamology, Neurosurgery, Urology, General Surgery (and subspecialties), Anesthesiology,

Tier 2: Family Practice, Emergency Medicine, Pathology, Dermatology (surprisingly low), Internal Medicine (Card/Gastro are Tier 1 I think), PM+R,

Tier 3: Pediatrics (exact prestige level depends on money I think), OB/GYN, Psychiatry
Click to expand...

Nice tripple cross post, sir!
 
Oh, the most prestigious specialty is probably pediatric cardiac surgery. If you know anything about the defects that can arise and the very complex ways of repairing them, then you have to have a ton of respect for those guys.
 
goofball said:
Disclaimer: I don't buy into any of this nonsense.

My family's (and larger community's) perspective. This list was gleaned through many, many boring conversations with med student families and other randoms who think I should have decided my career before entering med school.

I'll revise this list as I remember some other specialties. In each tier, list is in rough descending order from left to right.


God Tier: Plastics, Vascular Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Radiology.

Tier 1: Radiation Oncology, Ophthamology, Neurosurgery, Urology, General Surgery (and subspecialties), Anesthesiology,

Tier 2: Family Practice, Emergency Medicine, Pathology, Dermatology (surprisingly low), Internal Medicine (Card/Gastro are Tier 1 I think), PM+R,

Tier 3: Pediatrics (exact prestige level depends on money I think), OB/GYN, Psychiatry
Click to expand...

The only "bad" specialty is one you aren't passionate about.
 
Not to hijack but I really don't get why there is so much psych hate? Pay is higher than primary care, lifestyle is really good, psychiatrists have really high rates of job satisfaction...

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touchpause13 said:
Not to hijack but I really don't get why there is so much psych hate? Pay is higher than primary care, lifestyle is really good, psychiatrists have really high rates of job satisfaction...

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Idk why the hate, I'm confident it's the specialty for me, (maybe neuro) so I just ignore it. As PP above said the only bad specialty is one your not fond of. If you love psych you pretty much just gotta ignore the haters!
 
touchpause13 said:
Not to hijack but I really don't get why there is so much psych hate? Pay is higher than primary care, lifestyle is really good, psychiatrists have really high rates of job satisfaction...

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Click to expand...

I think the majority of applicants just don't have an interest in it. I can't speak for anyone else, but psych is the last thing I would want to do, and it has nothing to do with the pay/lifestyle and everything to do with what the job entails (or perhaps just as importantly, what it doesn't).
 
Do OB/Gyns work with boobies too? If so, I'm surprised it's not more popular.
 
nysegop said:
Do OB/Gyns work with boobies too? If so, I'm surprised it's not more popular.
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Ok look, doctors work with patients, not the general population. Most of your patients will be old and obese.

Basically, don't go into any specialty for sexual reasons.
 
goofball said:
Ok look, doctors work with patients, not the general population. Most of your patients will be old and obese.

Basically, don't go into any specialty for sexual reasons.
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1) most old people aren't obese
2) most obese people aren't old
3) the types of patients you work with is completely dependent on what you specialize in/where you work. Do you think fat and old people are the ones popping out babies?
 
I'm a male and I am interested in OB/GYN. More specifically I'm interested in Maternal - Fetal Medicine.
 
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