Men in OB/GYN- Problems finding a job?

[Bethanechol]

I know there has been quite a number of threads in the past dealing with patient preference of men vs women as their OBGYN and it is not my intention to start another gender preference thread. In my search, I have not been able to find posts specifically addressing whether males are having a hard time finding jobs after finishing residency or not.

I am currently a MS III and loved my OBGYN rotation. OBGYN is a fantastic combination of medicine, surgery and preventative care for a grateful and relatively healthy patient population. I thoroughly enjoyed the L&D, surgeries and the clinics in the rotation. However, when I recently asked a male attending about life after residency his reply was, "only choose OBGYN if that is the only field you can see yourself doing. As a man, you will not be competitive in the OBGYN generalist job market. You will have to settle for jobs in less desirable locations, with less desirable call schedules and take a lower salary compared to your female counterparts. My best advice to you would be to try to find something else that you might like just as much." Needless to say, I was quite disturbed by this piece of advice. I really don't want to go through such a tough residency for 4 years only to come out with no job or having to settle for one in timbuktu earning significantly less than my counterparts simply because I am a man. Are there any attendings/residents out there with knowledge of the current job market for male OBGYN's that would be willing to kindly share your advice/words of wisdom? Thanks in advance for any advice!

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[THP]

There is some truth to what he says but it depends on where you live. If you do want to live in a big city with a job market that is already saturated I think that is definitely the case. Also women who live in bigger cities tend to be more discriminatory against men and are more likely to only want women for their Ob/GYN care.

I will say that of the 4th year men in my program: one had multiple job offers within a few months of looking and the other now has 2 job offers but not in the most desirable areas. It also depends on how strong of a candidate you are. When I was interviewing at UCSD for residency one of the attendings told me flat out there were essentially no job opportunities for generalist men in San Diego. At the same time I know of a group in san diego that was hiring and would have hired me if I weren't an intern at the time.

The short answer is - it depends on where you want to live and how good of an applicant you are. I think that the pendulum will swing back to favor men somewhat as we become more rare in OB/GYN. You would be shocked by how many women in my program want to work part time when they get out. I am personally not worried about finding a job when I finish at least if I want to stay locally.

 

[Bethanechol]

Hi THP,

Thanks for taking the time to reply especially given your crazy busy residency schedule. Given what you have said, it sounds like things may work out ok for me depending on what you mean by "not in the most desirable areas." I have absolutely no desire to live in the relatively expensive major cities such as LA, SF, Chicago, NYC, Boston, DC, Miami. My goal is to eventually practice either in the outskirts of a major city/medium sized city in the South or in the mid-West. Cities like Fort Worth, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, Lexington, Kansas City come to mind. Do you think these cities fall under what you meant by less desirable areas or were you thinking of even smaller cities/towns in the boonies?

Ofcourse, I can always complete a fellowship (where gender matters much less) but I wanted to make sure I go into this process comfortable with the fact that I may end up being a generalist in the event that 1) I burn out and just want to make some money or 2) I'm not one of the 60% of applicants matching into the competitive fellowships. Any further advice/comments would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Boges]

great thread...

i too am a male very interested in obgyn. however, i'm a little older than usual--just turned 40 today--and was wondering if that would have any further impact. ie. what do you think about it influencing my chances at both landing a residency and then finding a job after--does it factor in?

thanks to any replies.

 

[2000 Man]

I too would be interested in hearing what people think about this. I'm a male, 47 years old with an interest in ob gyn. How do you think this would be looked at by PD's (assuming all of the rest of my numbers are competitive)? How about landing a job?

 

[THP]

I don't think you will have any problem at all in any of those areas you mentioned. Granted, I am not overly familiar with them. I am familiar with the southeast and again I am not worried about finding a job.

Being >40 yo and just starting residency may make things difficult for you in terms of finding a job afterward. Just remember, who you know is more important than what you know.

 

[Global Disrobal]

I am a male and finished residency with several other Y-chromosomes. I've also been around several male residents in where I am completing my fellowship now. I can comfortably tell you that the guys in residency at my home institution as well as my fellowship institution all had multiple interviews, offers, and ended up with their first choice. As for geographic specifics, it varied from big city (DC, SF) to smaller (Raleigh, NC). If you are a good candidate with solid recommendations, finding a job should not be a concern, especially considering the move toward a hospitalist and/or hospital owned practice model.

Best of luck to you all & happy holidays.

 

[Bethanechol]

Thanks THP and Global Disrobal for your replies and the "real world" information that you guys posted. I am glad to hear that there is still a place for men in this field and that the job market is not as bad as what I have heard from a small sample of attendings.

Global Disrobal: You mentioned at the end of your post about the move toward hospitalists and hospital-owned practices. I understand the rationale behind the increase in popularity of the laborist model (less call burden on private practice OB's and better outcomes for patients by having fresh, well-rested, onsite laborists present 24/7). Would you be able to further explain the reasons for the emergence of more hospital-owned practices? What are the advantages/disadvantages of joining a hospital-owned practice as opposed to the traditional private group practice? Do hospital-owned practices offer options of partnership or shareholder status or are they strictly salary + production bonus? Thanks for your input to my questions and I hope you have a happy holiday season also!

 

[Global Disrobal]

In general (not always) the hospital owned practice will provide you a set base income with some bonus sharing based on RVU's. Your malpractice is covered and usually there is no opportunity for partnership. In certain instances (i.e. Kaiser), you can become a shareholder after being vested for 2-3 years. In general, you may get better benefits from hospitals (i.e. retirement, health care, vacation weeks).

Again, in general (not always) the private practices will give you a set base salary for 2-3 years with opportunity to become partner. This may not always be the case as some practices may not be open to partnership. After the vested years have been put in, you either become partner based on your sweat equity or you buy into the practice (and sometimes the building). Your benefits can vary to great extent in private practice depending on the size of the practice, market, and deals they may have with the other hospital practices or the hospital itself., search previous threads as there a lot of great posts on the topic.

As for pros and cons

Hope this helps you.

 

[Bethanechol]

As for pros and cons

Hope this helps you.

Thanks for your reply. Did part of your post get cut off when discussing pros and cons of the different practice models?

 

[Global Disrobal]

Yep. What I wanted to say was: As for pros and cons, search previous posts as there are great discussions on the topic.