ObGyn versus Urology

[trigirl]

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I'm almost finished with 3rd year and I'm having trouble deciding my residency choice. The dilema is that I love surgery. I did enjoy my Ob-Gyn rotation, even out-patient, and overall I thought the mix of patients (range of ages, high-risk MFM versus routine OB, office gyn procedures coupled with complicated Gyn-Onc) and the the ability to do research (I have a graduate degree in basic science) were all great. It all seemed like a good fit, especially since I have a toddler (and would like more children) and thought that Ob-Gyn would provide the opportunity to tailor my practice to a more family friendly lifestyle. But then I did surgery, and I liked surgery more. In particular, the reconstructive work in peds urology was absolutely stunning!

So, in short am I fooling myself to think that Ob-Gyn will provide a better lifestyle during residency and beyond than a purely surgical subspecialty? I've also asked a similar question in the Urology forum and would love the ObGyn side of the story. Thanks for any comments you could share.

 

[luvOB]

I'm almost finished with 3rd year and I'm having trouble deciding my residency choice. The dilema is that I love surgery. I did enjoy my Ob-Gyn rotation, even out-patient, and overall I thought the mix of patients (range of ages, high-risk MFM versus routine OB, office gyn procedures coupled with complicated Gyn-Onc) and the the ability to do research (I have a graduate degree in basic science) were all great. It all seemed like a good fit, especially since I have a toddler (and would like more children) and thought that Ob-Gyn would provide the opportunity to tailor my practice to a more family friendly lifestyle. But then I did surgery, and I liked surgery more. In particular, the reconstructive work in peds urology was absolutely stunning!

So, in short am I fooling myself to think that Ob-Gyn will provide a better lifestyle during residency and beyond than a purely surgical subspecialty? I've also asked a similar question in the Urology forum and would love the ObGyn side of the story. Thanks for any comments you could share.

first of all, if you already know that you like surgery more then that's what you have to do. everything else will fall in place as long as you keep your priorities (family) in mind.

i had a similar dilemma. i absolutely loved ob/gyn but when I rotated through surgery i started having doubts about ob b/c i was having so much fun in surgery and found the malpractice issues with ob daunting. but i was also concerned about the lifestyle of a surgeon. the surgeons thought i was crazy for thinking that ob might be less demanding than surgery. their points were: 1)you never get to sleep on ob call while on surgery call you often do;surgical emergencies are rare as compared to labor and complications. on sugery call you mainly care for critical pt on the floor and deal with medicine issues. 2) once you are done with residency, you don't have to take call, esp in private practice, while for ob you cannot get away without any calls no matter what you do (although in some large groups call may be q7 or less) 3) in private practice or if you are a big shot attending, you may schedule your own surgeries and ob's can't schedule their deliveries unless you induce or section all your pts! to add to this last point, we have a general surgeon at our school who is a mother of two and her husband is also a physician, well she schedules her cases so that they pretty much fall between 9-5. she takes her children to school and tries to pick them up on most days (sometimes btw cases if it's a long day, but then she will go back to the OR and finish in time to either eat dinner with them or tuck them in bed.) obviously there are emergencies that come up and she gets stuck in the OR longer than anticipated but for the most part, her schedule is awesome!

but despite their good points, i stuck with ob because it's what i truly love! and at the end of the day, you gotta do what you love. you can make everything else work if it is important enough to you. being a good mom is possible in either specialty so you gotta go with you heart. don't worry, it's still early. do a couple of sub-i's next year to help you--try to find urogyn exposure, it's all pelvic surgery! good luck, i hope you'll decide to join us though! 😉

 

[trigirl]

Thanks luvOB. I always tell people they have to do what they love -- sometimes it's hard to follow your own advice 🙂 As you pointed out, a few sub-Is should help me sort things out. Medical training does somehow all "fall into place" at some point so I have to trust that the same will happen with this decision.