Choosing a Residency: Ophtho vs. Obgyn vs. Other

[elevation1]

Any help would be super appreciated.

Have narrowed my choices down to Ophtho and Obgyn.

Things I'm looking for:
1) Interesting subject material
(I love neuro so for me: Optho > Obgyn)
2) Relationship with patient, "involved" patient interaction; using my skills in patient communication, empathy, etc (Obgyn > Ophtho)
3) Lifestyle, especially work-life balance (not married and don't have kids yet, but I know that having sufficient time with family, and for family outings, etc is something that is important to me)
4) A service that is relatively busy; relatively little rounding and charting
5) I like like procedural things but not a huge fan of the big, 3+ hour surgeries
6) Not facing the stress of the Malpractice issue in Obgyn

My profile:
Have done a ton of volunteering in lots of different organizations, but it all involved kids (used to want Peds)
Have done research and published (1st author in a Obgyn journal - although it was more of a congenital neuro-related project; non-1st author in an Endo journal)
Already have 1 strong Obgyn reference letter (we don't get a core rotation in Ophtho so have had only "scattered" exposure)

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[DrZeke]

If you can see yourself doing something less competitive than Ophtho, best to do that.

**I had a much longer post written out, but I deleted it because it largely included my complete and utter disdain and dislike for everything ob-gyn which isn't fair to expose to sweet innocent medical students **


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[DrZeke]

Also, your #2 isnt necessarily true. Depending what you do in ophthalmology you have a lot of continuity of care and will see a patient for many years, especially if they require more than just a screening exam...

Sounds like you could do obgyn no problem. If you do gyn/onc or gyn In general you do a lot of anatomy based surgeries and you also form intense relationships with your patients in their time of need.

To play devils advocate if you're seriously considering Ophtho you need more exposure. You need to level your exposure for both fields. If you could be happy doing ob/gyn and think you will have no regrets don't waste time doing the Ophtho elective

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[long]

All 6 of the things on your list are easily satisfied by ophthalmology.


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[Super66]

2) Relationship with patient, "involved" patient interaction; using my skills in patient communication, empathy, etc (Obgyn > Ophtho)

Dude... you do realize how much people care about their eyes right? It's not just all artificial tears for DES... there's some pretty high stakes for many patients, and empathy and patient communication skills are crucial. Just sayin...

I understand the crossover appeal, I liked OB/GYN too. But I agree with Dr. Zeke. You need to get more exposure. They're ultimately very different fields.

 

[MstaKing10]

Let's go through these in order:
1. Interesting subject material: both are so tie (as ophthalmologist I have a bias of course but Ob is fascinating stuff too)
2. Patient relationship: can have with both
3. Lifestyle: I think ophthalmology hands down
4. Busy service: both, little rounding: ophthalmology, charting: ha! Both are bad and given where healthcare is going will only get worse
5. Short procedures: ophthalmology hands down
6. Malpractice: as I understand it Ob has some of the most expensive malpractice premiums and is a fairly high risk field.

You need to do an ophthalmology rotation or follow a doc around for at least a few weeks to get a feel for it then decide. Good luck.

 

[LightBox]

You really have to think about long-term lifestyle. Everything will get boring and routine eventually. At least in Ophtho, your work hours will be very reasonable and you will likely be paid significantly more for the effort you put into it. I guess all Ophthos are biased, but there is no way in h*** I would even consider doing ObGyn! Take that for what it is worth.