I have officially been to hell and back

[xanthomondo]

...except on the door it had a different name:

Ob/Gyn


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[turkeyjerky]

congratulations! I remember walking home from the hospital on my last day of OB--easily the best moment of third year!

 

[lildave2586]

congratulations! I remember walking home from the hospital on my last day of OB--easily the best moment of third year!

I had that moment today, and it was sweet.

 

[PistolPete]

Last Friday I had that moment also. Longest 6 weeks ever. If it were between ObGyn and not be in medicine, I would not be in medicine. Looks like ObGyn, family, and probably ER are out for me.

 

[footcloud]

I think Gyn is WAY worse than Ob. At least babies are kinda cute when they get born. Gyn on the other hand....

 

[deleted263296]

I agree with a lot of your posts and this is one I couldn't agree with more. Ob/Gyn was a frakking nightmare. I'm glad I got it over with early and I hope it will be the lowest point in my clinical years. Because if not, I can't go on. lol I often daydreamed that if I knew I were going to die tomorrow, I would have no hesitation about telling all of them to f' off.

In retrospect, Ob/Gyn wasn't entirely horrible. There were some people who were nice and helpful but the people who are not helpful and who are just plain hateful and malignant are so bad that they tarnished the entire experience. Unfortunately, I now have a knee jerk reaction to all ob-gyns that I didn't have before and it'll probably last with me throughout the rest of my professional career based on opinions attendings in other professions have towards them as well.

 

[Knicks]

OB can be annoying as heck

 

[turkeyjerky]

I think Gyn is WAY worse than Ob. At least babies are kinda cute when they get born. Gyn on the other hand....

gotta disagree--newborn babies are gross. I've seen some nasty stuff, but vaginal births top the list for me. That said, I hated the rotation cause of the malignant b!tches, not the actual work.

 

[Eat Oatmeal]

I hated gyn. Two words: whiff test.

 

[Bartelby]

Where I worked only one attending fit this developing "OB stereotype," the rest were great. And I never met an unhelpful OB/GYN resident.

Still, congratulations on finishing a tough rotation! From what I hear the program I rotated through is a real rarity (and despite nice people I wasn't a huge fan of the work).

 

[lildave2586]

That said, I hated the rotation cause of the malignant b!tches, not the actual work.

This.

We had a handful of good ones, but man there were definitely some of those MBs as well.

 

[peppy]

I hated gyn. Two words: whiff test.

My ob/gyn rotation wasn't so bad, but sadly I've run into situations in FM and EM where people think I'm the person who should do the pelvic exam just because I'm female.
It even happened to me while doing urgent care at the VA! Figures that when only 10% of the patients at that VA are female, I'd happen to get the rare patient who is not only female but also there for a gyn problem.

 

[jdh71]

My ob/gyn rotation wasn't so bad, but sadly I've run into situations in FM and EM where people think I'm the person who should do the pelvic exam just because I'm female.

Sounds about right to me. It's really hard to argue against that logic.

If I can turf a pelvic to a woman resident, I do.

<----- Bad Person

 

[jdh71]

I love the Ob/Gyn hate. Mostly because I hated the crazy bizzitches on my rotation in med school - surgery was just as malignant, but I think women do a better job of holding grudges and generally being "catty" (I don't think this is a particularly shocking, outrageous, or sexist comment; men generally approach conflict differently, and as a dude, I'm more comfortable with that).

What's funny is running into med students where I'm doing residency now who LOVE their Ob/Gyn rotation. I guess because a few choice staff are really good with the students. I feel bad for them because they have no clue what they are getting themselves into. Oh well. Everyone has a right to make their mistakes.

 

[footcloud]

How do you survive in this rotation if you hate it so much? I just want a pass, I don't care if they say ****ty stuff about me, I could care less at this point.

C/S are the worst, I am so sick of retracting and doing pointless work.

 

[smiley737]

Ob-Gyn was the worst time in my life.

 

[astrocreep96]

Although I have positively 0 (zero) interest in OB/GYN, I didn't mind the rotation too much. It helped that I happened to match up with generally decent residents and got some face time with great attendings.

Three, 2-week rotations and it was over fast. I picked up some interesting stories along the way.

 

[Jolie South]

I found Ob/Gyn itself interesting. Got to deliver some babies and help some ladies.

The personalities of the residents and attendings, however, are a different story entirely.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I have nothing positive whatsoever to say about my 2 weeks spent in L&D. If it wasn't for the life experience of delivering a baby*, I'd call it a complete waste of 2 weeks. I mean, it was *this* close to a complete waste anyway, but I can't say I took absolutely nothing away from it.

*Not that I actually enjoyed delivering babies - I didn't at all - but I feel like it's one of those things I should do before leaving med school. Few people get a chance to do it, so I might as well while I can.

OB clinic was beyond disgusting, but I at least learned something. Gyn was also disgusting, but I lucked out and got a rotation that was extremely easy on the hours (10/week, if you can believe that) and also provided tons of learning opportunities. From what it sounds like, I did more in 30 hours than my friends did in ~150. Sweet deal, if you ask me.

Strangely, I was shocked by how much I liked the staff. Everyone I worked with was very cool.

Basically, if we eliminated L&D, it would have been a much, much better experience. 120 hours of agonizing boredom speckled with moments of putrid awfulness is not how I'd envisioned spending 2 weeks' worth of my tuition money or my life.

 

[coldweatherblue]

another reason why I love my MS3 rotation schedule: Ob/Gyn is the last rotation before fourth-year. I can make it through anything with the promised land in sight...

 

[illixir]

I'm on ob/gyn right now, all the residents I've had have generally been pretty helpful though there's definately some cattiness witnessed from one or two in particular. I think if you zone out that stuff and focus on the patient it's generally more tolerable. Gyn exams are minimalized to active complaints/annual exams and there's bad smells in alot of the surgical fields. The field i think is kind of more complicated and protocol-driven than any third-year med student would want to learn if they're not going into it. Deliveries can be pretty complex and being next to the resident for the end of labor and catching a baby at the last pushes is not delivering a baby, haha no matter how much you want it to be.

 

[MilkmanAl]

So basically, as long as you can ignore all the things that totally suck about the rotation, it's not so bad. Foolproof plan.

 

[illixir]

I'm trying to say I don't think there's alot to ignore, it's clearly program-specific but I've had gen surg residents frustrate me more than ob/gyns and really bad smells, worse smells actually.. in both gen surg and medicine.

I think the part that's most frustrating as a student which I maybe alluded to is it's hard to be as involved. In medicine, you'll help come up with the plan, pend orders, dose the drugs, schedule appointments, pend discharge orders/instructions/summary. You'll actively manage the patient's hospital stay. In OB, its easier to glaze over those parts because its complicated and just allow yourself to feel useless the whole rotation. No one will stop you.

 

[MilkmanAl]

For our OB rotation, we couldn't get involved in the patients' management. I don't think an OB patient's medical management is any more complicated than anyone else's, really. It's just that nobody wanted us doing anything at all. All we did was talk to them every once in awhile and try to not miss their delivery even though we were in a corner room away from all the action, and nobody ever came and told us when our patients were about to pop. We weren't wanted, and nobody made any attempt to keep us involved in the things we could actually do. They got paged to go do stuff while we just sat in our little room. I'd go as far as saying that there are often times when we were actively excluded from what was happening on the wards. At one point, I asked the course secretary lady if we could have one of those little Vocera walkie-talkie deals that the residents and nurses use put in our room so we could hear the pages. I was told that they cost $10000 apiece (that's right, ten thousand dollars), so they weren't going to invest in one. I took it to the course director, and she gave me some line about licensing and costing $3000 for a new one. (We'll ignore the sheer stupidity of paying $3000 plus the cost of the Vocera when you can get a nice smart phone that does all that and tons more for $500.) When I suggested that we take one of the off-duty residents' Voceras, she just said she couldn't do that and gave no explanation. In other words, they completely blew off any attempt we made to get involved.

Surgery and medicine have their share of grossness, too, don't get me wrong. Colon resections are not my favorite. The difference is that you're basically guaranteed a smell that's 75% as bad as the worst thing surgery can dish out on every single OB patient. That smell filled the air of our OB floor. It was inescapable and sucked a lot.

Like you said, all this is clearly program-dependent, but it doesn't sound like ours is too different from many others.

 

[illixir]

Yea there are definately some problems with the place I'm doing my ob/gyn rotation too so I can sympathize. We definately don't get any phone like the residents, and we never get paged like in medicine. We also have very limited electronic record access which is awful. There's no smell pervading our L&D floor though, haha I dont know if its good ventilation or what.

There usually isn't much to medical management for OB patients I was talking more about monitoring dilation, contractions, fetal heart tones alongside that. I guess it's not that complicated, haha but you're right that the residents aren't going to involve you in that on their own like they may in some other specialties. I think you have to express an interest alot more and essentially stick to the residents at all times. That's definately easier when you have nice residents... I mean in reality in medicine and surgery I spent my time with the residents on my service as well.

I've never seen stuff get done for you to be more involved through administrative types on any rotation.

 

[slowbutsteady]

I loved the rotation, especially the gyn. Lots of cool surgical procedures.

 

[DrBowtie]

Any tips for a dude on the rotation?

 

[BigRedder]

Any tips for a dude on the rotation?

1. Think of the vagina as just another body part, because it is.

2. When you are doing a pelvic exam, remember that the major reason you are doing it is to assess the cervix, uterus, and ovaries. As weird as it sounds, take advantage of the opportunity to examine anesthetized patients. You will never have a better chance to learn how to properly do the exam as when all the awkwardness isn't hanging over you. I guess that goes for everyone.

3. Try to pretend it isn't awkward to be all up in their business. You aren't a creeper, you are a healthcare provider. Just keep telling yourself that.

4. Sometimes it is necessary to breath through your mouth.

 

[footcloud]

Any tips for a dude on the rotation?

get a calendar, start marking off days until rotation is over. It will come soon enough. And it will be great and you will be shocked at how nice some other residents can be to you.

 

[xanthomondo]

Always always find a way to introduce yourself when you enter the room with a patient. So many times I'd walk in with a resident and they would completely act like I wasn't there and wouldn't introduce me. It just adds to the awkwardness when the patient is like "uhh who's that dude staring at my v-jay." Even if the resident starts going into HPI or whatever just interrupt them to introduce yourself (start by extending your hand for a handshake).

My situation was somewhat similar to Milkman's - the residents really didn't want us involved in their patient's care. We were only getting in the way. The students at my rotation were even told outright that "we don't waste our time [teaching and letting us see patients] if the student isn't interested in OB/GYN as a career." It's as if the OB/GYN residents were never students themselves and never had to rotate through a non-OB rotation in their third year of medical school.

 

[MilkmanAl]

1. Think of the vagina as just another body part, because it is.

2. When you are doing a pelvic exam, remember that the major reason you are doing it is to assess the cervix, uterus, and ovaries. As weird as it sounds, take advantage of the opportunity to examine anesthetized patients. You will never have a better chance to learn how to properly do the exam as when all the awkwardness isn't hanging over you. I guess that goes for everyone.

3. Try to pretend it isn't awkward to be all up in their business. You aren't a creeper, you are a healthcare provider. Just keep telling yourself that.

4. Sometimes it is necessary to breath through your mouth.

get a calendar, start marking off days until rotation is over. It will come soon enough. And it will be great and you will be shocked at how nice some other residents can be to you.

Second all of this. In summary, just get through it. Learn to do a basic pelvic exam and an uncomplicated delivery, figure out what basic stuff can go wrong during pregnancy and delivery and how to fix it, and GTFO. If you sat down and read about it, that'd be maybe 2 hours of reading plus 5-6 pelvics, at the very most, but you get to stretch it out to 6 weeks (or however long OB/GYN rotations are at your school). Huzzah!

 

[2012mdc]

Second all of this. In summary, just get through it. Learn to do a basic pelvic exam and an uncomplicated delivery, figure out what basic stuff can go wrong during pregnancy and delivery and how to fix it, and GTFO. If you sat down and read about it, that'd be maybe 2 hours of reading plus 5-6 pelvics, at the very most, but you get to stretch it out to 6 weeks (or however long OB/GYN rotations are at your school). Huzzah!

It's going to be 7 weeks of hell (last week for exams) but at least I'll have M4 (w/ a rads rotation 1st) at the end of the tunnel. It's 4 weeks of L&D (2 night, 2 day), 2 weeks of Gyn clinic, and 2 weeks of MFM clinic (1 wk high risk, 1 wk regular clinic).

Luck plays a huge role in how much it will suck - the mini rotation you are on last gets cut get in half so I'm praying to have one of my L&D's first (get it out of the way) and the other last (1 wk instead of 2). Some of my classmates had 4 straight weeks of L&D to start off

 

[MilkmanAl]

2 weeks of L&D was plenty excruciating, but I'd want my tuition back if we had 4 weeks. What a waste.

 

[xanthomondo]

It's going to be 7 weeks of hell (last week for exams) but at least I'll have M4 (w/ a rads rotation 1st) at the end of the tunnel. It's 4 weeks of L&D (2 night, 2 day), 2 weeks of Gyn clinic, and 2 weeks of MFM clinic (1 wk high risk, 1 wk regular clinic).

Luck plays a huge role in how much it will suck - the mini rotation you are on last gets cut get in half so I'm praying to have one of my L&D's first (get it out of the way) and the other last (1 wk instead of 2). Some of my classmates had 4 straight weeks of L&D to start off

Reading this schedule gives me heart palpitations.

2 weeks of watching ultrasound techs doing ultrasounds? 4 weeks of LnD?

I will pray for you.

 

[DrBowtie]

Reading this schedule gives me heart palpitations.

2 weeks of watching ultrasound techs doing ultrasounds? 4 weeks of LnD?

I will pray for you.

No kidding. I only have 4 wks. (2 LnD, 1 gyn clinic, 1 gyn onc)

 

[Jeff Smoker]

It's been nearly seven years since my Ob/Gyn (or obs&gobs as we called it) rotation in med school, and just thinking about it spikes my blood pressure.

For some reason, when you amass a group of women together along with the stress of residency, it's the worst. Posturing, cattiness, back stabbing, crying. We (the students) did our best to rein in the personalities. It was to the point where the residents called our group (majority guys) "team testosterone" We, in turn, called them "Team Jaded Female" I know that they disliked me personally. That was born out on my evaluation. Not once was I critiqued for my knowledge or quality of work. Instead I was given a 70 (lowest passing grade) and the comment said "His disdain for this area of medicine is evident." Just another feather in the cap.

It was actually a pretty tough rotation work wise. 12 hour L&D shifts. 6 overnight calls a month (which isn't bad as a student). We had to show up before the residents and write all the notes which they cosigned. That actually was the source of a good story. One of the interns started hooting and hollering about someone's note, and was going on about how she couldn't read the signature. It was my friend who was an OMFS resident. He had already done an intern year, but was doing third and fourth year of med school. He calmly walked up to the chart, stared the resident in the eyes the whole time, and took out his stamp with his name on it, and slammed it down on the chart. He later made her cry by going off on her about the way she talked to him.

Sorry about the long windedness of my post. God, I HATED that rotation. It gives me the rage. I'm so glad I work in a hospital now without Ob/gyn.

 

[PistolPete]

Jeff Smoker, what did you end up in? Just curious.

 

[2012mdc]

2 weeks of L&D was plenty excruciating, but I'd want my tuition back if we had 4 weeks. What a waste.

I try not to think about it but at least it's my last rotation. Hopefully I don't have to put a great effort to get honors b/c I really won't care that much at that point. At least the shelf is supposedly easy

Reading this schedule gives me heart palpitations.

2 weeks of watching ultrasound techs doing ultrasounds? 4 weeks of LnD?

I will pray for you.

I think they let us get pretty hands on with the U/S but thanks for the prayers

No kidding. I only have 4 wks. (2 LnD, 1 gyn clinic, 1 gyn onc)

I envy you but I kind of knew what I was getting into (school w/ heavy primary care focus, still going to do rads though )