ob/gyn, yes or no?

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docmemi

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hi docs. im thinking of going into ob/gyn but everyone tells me that it is disgusting, bad, etc.

what do you guys think...is it reall that bad? what are some reasons you were interested in ob/gyn? oh and im a guy, does that make a big diff or make it harder?

thanks for the help.

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Everybody always has an opinion. Follow your own instincts. God I sound like a philosophy major.

I don't know what level of medical training you're at right now, but regardless try to always take what people say with a grain of salt. Many people ( surgeons to a large extent) always have something negative to say about anything, for example:

pathologist-no jobs (not true)
Ob-Gyn's-no life (not true)
and so forth...

I liked Ob b/c it lets you do primary care and surgery. You also get a good number of relatively healthy pts. You can establish long term relationships and care for several generations of families. Pt education and health self awareness, etc.

Being a male will put you in the minority, but being able and good will ultimately build your rep and get you a job so don't let that be a deciding factor.

Good luck w/the rest of the way!
 
I am a third year doing OB/GYN right now and was on call yesterday. Our ER dept has a dedicated room for Gyn problems and we a had a steady flow of patients (usually 1st term bleeding/pain). Since we were in the ER I could see what else was going too...typical stuff you'd see there and thought it was nice to have some younger folks for patients for a change rather than those with chronic issues. Talk to some Obs about what they do...I think every specialty will downplay others (at least in my experience).
 
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In addition to talking to ob/gyns about what they do, you may want to ask them what they like and what they don't like about their profession. Every specialty will have pros and cons but I think it's important to get the perspective of people that are in the field.

Also, there will be women that will choose to be seen only by women. You can't do anything about that. But there are plenty of women that don't mind. If you are good at listening and caring for the patient, you'll find that you will have plenty of patients to keep you busy.

Good luck
 
OB is damn cool. You get to manage medical problems as well as surgical. The patients are pretty healthy (except for GYN-onc), and delivering babies is a pretty cool experience. Hell, I was going to go into OB, but no matter what anyone tells you, the whole males having a tough time in OB thing is true. Most of the guys I've seen graduate from OB residencies are working locums or in really underserved areas. In private practice, a woman can build up a practice in a quarter to half the time it takes a man. Its unfortunate, but I can understand women wanting to go to femael gynecologists too.
 
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