What do you make of this obgyn trend? (regarding satisfaction and competitiveness)

[makethemostofit]

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[slowthai]

Every year, obgyn has gotten more and more competitive for medical students (nearly all slots filled).

Why is this happening when the medscape compensation survey from 2019 (and all the years before) lists obgyn as the 7th least satisfied specialty (with public health, critical care, nephrology, rheum, FM, general IM following)? A similar increase in competitiveness has happened for psych over the years; however, their job satisfaction is much higher so the competitiveness (measured in my mind by % unfilled, not necessarily step score) makes sense.

the specialties that rank even lower than obgyn in satisfaction are not remotely competitive. So why is it so for ob/gyn? Thoughts?



Link: Medscape: Medscape Access

So first off, you shouldn't look to Medscape for satisfaction or salary data. It's just not good data. Secondly, everything is becoming more competitive. The primary driver of that is the opening up of too many med schools every year. Residency programs and spots are not opening up at a rate to keep up.

Look at Charting the Outcomes to see how many people apply for however many spots for whichever field you're interested in. You'll see what I mean.

Edit: Now if you're asking why people are choosing OB enough to make it intrinsically competitive, maybe it's because a lot of people have a strong passion for women's health and like a mix of medicine and procedures? Not too sure.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

I suspect the increasing number of women in medicine plays a role in that

 

[sella.turcica]

Just a matter of time before someone plays the "IMGs take residency spots away" card.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

I think it’s a surgical subspeciality which has more in common in practice setup with the highly competitive subs like ENT and Urology than with the other primary care specialities it’s usually lumped with.

This may be more of a reversion to the mean rather than a deviation from it

 

[Wilf]

Secondly, everything is becoming more competitive. The primary driver of that is the opening up of too many med schools every year. Residency programs and spots are not opening up at a rate to keep up.

Too many new medical schools opening is definitely a problem. Residency spots "not keeping up" is what might save us.

 

[slowthai]

Too many new medical schools opening is definitely a problem. Residency spots "not keeping up" is what might save us.

If you're talking about preventing oversaturation, I agree.

 

[RNthenDoc]

Had an ob/gyn tell me there are more laborist jobs that include shiftwork now, so the lifestyle is better than the old days (remember Mr. Huxtable would falter in at all hours saying he was up all night delivering babies?).

N=1, but that would make sense

 

[BorderlineQueen]

Too many new medical schools opening is definitely a problem. Residency spots "not keeping up" is what might save us.

True but every year the Residency Expansion Act is pursued as a legalization. It hasn't passed yet or any other year but some year it might. Bipartisan GME Expansion Legislation Reintroduced in the House

 

[fldoctorgirl]

As someone who was gung-ho over OB in M1 (and is still leaving it on the table now, although far less likely), the general gist I've gotten from talking to both practicing ob/gyns and other interested students is that they like the variety of getting to work in the clinic, doing procedures in clinic, and also getting to do surgery. I have also heard the laborist argument as mentioned above-- shift work lets you control your hours-- but on the other hand I've heard of some people disliking this because it takes away the variety that attracted them to ob/gyn in the first place. Most people seem to get burnt out from the OB side of things, and a lot of older docs have moved to gyn-only practices to escape the lifestyle. However, nowadays a lot of practices are set up sharing OB patients for all pregnancy visits and whoever happens to be on call when x patient goes into labor is the one to deliver them, or pregnancy visits aren't shared but still whichever doc is on call is the one to deliver. It seems increasingly common that the days of the ob/gyn running around every night to deliver all of their patients' babies are gone, so I guess people think the lifestyle has improved significantly. Also, I think another thing that attracts people is that they make a decent chunk more than IM/FM/etc while only spending a year longer in residency.