Still a trainee but in my last year so I’ll answer what I can:
- What is unique or special about this specialty?
No other specialty blends preventive medicine and procedural care. Can go from doing pap smears and breast exams in clinic to doing a hysterectomy in the same day. Also, you’re the only one who can manage a pregnancy.
- What other specialties did you consider and why did you pick this one?
General Surgery; didn’t like the feel of Gen Surg clinic or the day-to-day floor management of patients. As someone who likes procedures, I was always going to dislike clinic but I can tolerate OBGYN clinic a lot more than Gen Surg.
- What challenges will this specialty face in the next 10 years?
Abortion care is health care. Contraceptive care is health care.
- What are common practice settings for this specialty?
One of the few remaining specialities where a standalone clinic-based practice (with hospital privileges) is possible so if you want you can join a private practice group. But if you want to work for a hospital then there are always jobs in hospital-based practices.
- How challenging or easy is it to match in this specialty?
I’ve been told it’s getting more competitive, I’d say on the level of Gen Surg.
- What excites you most about your specialty in the next 5, 10, 15 years from now?
The oncologic side of things is starting to get really cool with Keytruda changing the outcome for many patients with previously uncurable disease.
Other than that, there aren’t many changes that can be made when it comes to obstetrical care because 1) no expectant mom is going to let you RCT an unproven therapy on their pregnancy and 2) the field has a problem with dogma when it comes to labor and delivery and it’s hard to break tradition even when the old stuff has been proven in the literature to not work (again, because it’s such a sensitive field and highly litigious).
- Does your specialty currently use or do you foresee the incorporation of technology such as Artificial Intelligence?
Not currently; I’m sure it will play a role, probably first in the oncologic side of things for patients on 5th line chemo then trickling down to maternal fetal medicine.
- What are some typical traits to be successful in this specialty? (For example, organization skills, work independently)
Adaptability. The unpredictable nature of the job necessitates that you can change gears on a moment’s notice.
Compassion. Working with women takes a more sensitive approach, and these patients put a lot of trust in you because of the organ system involved.
- What does a typical workday consist of in your specialty?
Depends on your practice setting, but most generalists will do clinic (with a mix of obstetrical and gynecologic visits) or gynecologic cases in the OR during the day and may need to cover the labor floor or patient calls for their practice overnight (usually will have a nurse midwife fielding the calls first). Hospital-based docs will often just manage labor during their shift and not have any on-call responsibilities when they’re off.
- How does healthcare policy impact your specialty?
It ****s it. In the ass. Government so small it fits in a 6cm uterus. Being forced to let people die because a 1cm growth in their body that has 50 red blood cells has decided to implant itself in the wrong spot, or decided to become a breeding ground for bacteria and is jettisoning it throughout the host organism in accordance with God’s plan.
