Which as worse OB/GYN vs Surgery Rotation?

[NNguyenMD]

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By a huge f---ing margin, OB/GYN was the absolute worst for me.

Some residents were great, but the ones who were bad were just god f---ing awful. L&D was a horrid experience, b/c of some of the house staff and attendings. I can comfortably say that I hated almost every minute of it.

To the dept's credit though, the best senior resident I had all third was an OB resident. But thats about they had going for them.

Surgery was a godsend compared to the **** and stress I went through in OB. There is that surgery attitude sometimes, but from my experience as long as you worked hard and read ahead of cases they respected you.

What's your guy's experience?

 

[AmoryBlaine]

Sorry you had that experience. You know, thinking about Ob vs Surg, there is really no reason why Ob should be a worse experience. Most of the patients are basically healthy and are undergoing procedures that are extrememly safe. But you're right, L&D can be a nightmare. I'd hate to speculate about the reason for this disconnect...

 

[tr]

But you're right, L&D can be a nightmare. I'd hate to speculate about the reason for this disconnect...

Honestly, the reason L&D sucked for me was just cuz it was so dern boring.
I mean, you're sitting around waiting for something to happen... you can't leave because something might happen, even though nothing does for a couple of hours... and then after all that waiting, there are only two things that can possibly happen: a) a vaginal delivery, or b) a C-section. Both of which you've seen a gajillion times by the end of your first week. Gah. It made me want to gouge my eyeballs out with a speculum.

 

[nutcancer]

when you put it like this, yes OB sucks!! i had 3 weeks of OB and 3 weeks of GYN. i enjoyed the gyn part infinitely more. there's no miracle or beauty in being farted and pooed on -- and watching a nurse scrape the hanging poo. and watching hemmorhoidal anuses about to explode. oh and that damn smell when reconstructing tears. it still haunts me!!!!

 

[tr]

when you put it like this, yes OB sucks!! i had 3 weeks of OB and 3 weeks of GYN. i enjoyed the gyn part infinitely more. there's no miracle or beauty in being farted and pooed on -- and watching a nurse scrape the hanging poo. and watching hemmorhoidal anuses about to explode. oh and that damn smell when reconstructing tears. it still haunts me!!!!

No, but tell us how you really feel.

j/k - I liked gyn much better as well. Gyn was totally tolerable, even interesting. Ob, not so much.

 

[nykka3]

Yeah I liked the GYN way better than the OB part. In OB, I liked helping with vaginal deliveries, but once the baby was delivered I became less interested in the mom. I wanted to leave and get the baby cleaned up and play with the baby. As for GYN, I thought I would be scarred for life looking at vaginas all day ....and I am a woman by the way (who thinks vaginas are ugly and weird). However, I found the whole pelvic exam to be quite interesting and I loved counseling patients about preventative care,etc. My favorite portion of OB/GYN was actually GYN/ONC. It was depressing, but rewarding in the sense that I was really touched by the patient's and the struggles they had to endure. The pathology was also very interesting.

 

[tr]

Geez. I must be the only woman who ever rotated through Ob-Gyn and didn't care about the babies.

I like little kids and get along with them well. But babies? They all look the same (wrinkled and ugly), they all act the same (three moods: crabby, quiet, and asleep), and they're only interesting for about four seconds. I was amazed that these Obs and L&D nurses who see nothing but newborn babies all day long could still get excited enough to googoo-gaga over each one. Kudos to them for picking the right field, I guess.

Play with the babies? How can you play with a newborn? They can't even focus their little eyes yet. All they do is cry and eat. Give me a toddler any day.

 

[Taciturngosamer]

Admittedly, I've not had surgery yet so I suppose I should hold off my vote....BUT

Nothing could be worse than OB/GYN. Nothing!!! Props to whoever can actually stomach the thought of going into a specialty where the attendings work harder than some interns in other fields, who wants to work with the sorority gossip brigade, and who loves working with inexplicably cranky co-workers. But I think I'd rather drop out of medicine join the circus and spend the rest of my life eating rotten fish as a carnie side show performer.

But I may just be bitter as my resident made me babysit her 6 month old among other outlandish and stupid scutwork. Or it could just be OB/GYN...

 

[Winged Scapula]

Geez. I must be the only woman who ever rotated through Ob-Gyn and didn't care about the babies.

Play with the babies? How can you play with a newborn? They can't even focus their little eyes yet. All they do is cry and eat. Give me a toddler any day.

You are not. As a matter of fact, I didn't care about the toddlers either.

NICU babies are a tad more interesting, if only for the surgical pathology, but I liked taking care the mothers much better than those slimy, squirmy things they delivered.