Considering FM.... need advice!!!

[SnowyOwl]

Hi,

I am a third year osteopathic medical student who was planning on going into Family Medicine before clinical rotations began. Now, I am on my 2nd surgical rotation and I enjoy being the OR but I also love obstetrics and gynecology. My problem is, is that I enjoy all aspects of medicine and at the same time I want to be able to have a family life of my own. So I have been thinking that FM with obstetrics will give me the best of both worlds. However, I have some questions:
1. What will an obstetric fellowship after FM residency get me besides training in C-sections and tubal ligations? If I were to focus my practice on women's health can I get certified to do other OR procedures, such as hysteroscopy or Essure?

2. What kind of surgical procedures, besides derm, can a Family Med doc do in the office?

3. I have heard of FM docs helping in the OR- how common is this and is it mostly in smaller hospitals? Could I devote 1 day a week or month to being a first assist in orthopedics (I am loving my ortho rotation!)?

Thank you for any insight. I need to plan out my 4th year electives soon!

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[EdibleEgg]

1. Yes, but there is no such thing as "certified". You have to get credentials from your hospital. It can be a political process and is highly dependent on location and size.

2. The list is very long, but the limiting factor is often money. You can technically do anything your malpractice carrier knows about. If you are seeing lots of female patients, it may be worthwhile to purchase colpo equipment. However, are you going to pay for the scope and monitor to do a naso once a month? There are several procedure threads.

3. Covered in a very recent thread.