OB/GYN Residencies

[rellik]

I have always been interested in this as a potential specialty for me. My interest culminated with the birth of my son and be there along side my wife every step of the way.

I am just curious... What is it like for a guy trying to land an OB/GYN residency? I have noticed that the number of female residents in this field has increased dramatically over the past few years (but #s of female docs have increased overall).

Any thoughts?

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[dieselkid]

The NY times ran an article about guys in OB/Gyn about a month or more ago. Maybe do a search on their website. Anyways, the gist of the article was that it has become a girls club, particularly among practitioners who see middle-aged educated women. Personally, I think this is okay.



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Nothing doing.

 

[rellik]

I'll try to look in those periodicals. Any one else got ideas on this issue????

 

[drewdo]

I too had thought about specializing in ob/gyn, probably ever since I was five years old and played doctor with the neighbor girl. About five years ago I was driving out to AZ from MN and came across a radio talk show on KFI that dedicated a whole hour to asking women callers what gender they preferred when seeing a gynecologist. The final verdict - it was 50/50. Hardly any callers had horror stories to share regarding either gender - they just offered their preference and/or anecdotes about a male vs. female ob/gyn. Some said women were better because of the empathy thing, others said men were better because they didn't project their own personal experiences and attended to the patient's experiences better. But the conversations during that hour really made me change my mind about going into ob/gyn. The host eplained a recent report that many male ob/gyn's had a difficult time finding work and were needing to change their practice. It also seemed that women largely preferred women for more genuine reasons, and preferred men for reasons such as: "I've always seen him", "my mother referred me to him", "men always make better doctors, etc...". Anyway, hope that helps.



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Drewdo

 

[ewagner]

During my OB-GYN rotation, I worked with both male and female residents from St. Louis U. School of Med. And of the 10 residents I worked with, ALL of the male residents (3) were the easiest to get along with, and the most calm in all situations. And I wasn't the only student who noticed this...every student noticed it.
So, if you are serious about OB-GYN, go for it, don't back away due to perception.

 

[Aloha Kid]

Hi,

I have a comment. There are many wonderful male OB/GYN's out there. What it comes down to is your competence, skills, and personality. You can establish a practice where women will refer other women to you becausue they like you as a doctor even though you may be male.

I have also heard that many females who go into OB/GYN drop out because many lack the stamina it takes to be an OB/GYN. Don't get me wrong, the last thing I want to do is bad talk women. However, the fact is that males typically have more physical strength and stamina than females.