q re: attrition

[BlondeDocteur]

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Hi Ob/gyners--

I'm new to your board, as I'm applying in a surgical subspecialty next year.

In general surgery the attrition rate is unfortunately very high-- 25% of all residents leave the field, which is skewed by gender (20% of men quit, but 35% of women do). I haven't noticed the same problem in OB-- sure, people leave the field, but it doesn't seems to approach those numbers.

I'm especially interested given that 75% of current ob/gyn residents are female, and yet everyone is sticking it out!

What do you think the differences are? A more passionate devotion to the field? "Easy" months (i.e. outpatient, family planning) sprinkled in with the hard ones? A more supportive culture?

I could be way off-base, but I'm just curious. Thanks!

 

[BlondeDocteur]

No one interested, huh?

 

[smq123]

In general surgery the attrition rate is unfortunately very high-- 25% of all residents leave the field, which is skewed by gender (20% of men quit, but 35% of women do). I haven't noticed the same problem in OB-- sure, people leave the field, but it doesn't seems to approach those numbers.

I'm especially interested given that 75% of current ob/gyn residents are female, and yet everyone is sticking it out!

What do you think the differences are? A more passionate devotion to the field? "Easy" months (i.e. outpatient, family planning) sprinkled in with the hard ones? A more supportive culture?

I'm just guessing here, but....

a) I think that there are "easier" months in OB/gyn, which you don't have in surgery. You're right - the outpatient and family planning months tend to be easier.

b) I feel like the decision to go into OB/gyn is much more heavily questioned than the decision to go into surgery is. When I decided on OB, many OB residents said, "Make sure that this is REALLY what you want, because it's a tough life and will often stay that way." Whereas with surgery - I think that it's easy to get dazzled by the surgery culture, and think that it's "cool" and "fun"....and then get totally blindsided with how hard it can be. I feel like that happens less in OB/gyn.