Are OBGYN residencies completely brutal across the board, or does anyone know of programs that are more reasonable for women with families? (I know almost every residency is brutal, especially first year, so I am speaking comparatively.)


Is there a way to manage an OBGYN practice and still have a life (and still make enough money for it to be worth it)?

Speaking from an obgyn who has been out of residency for 8 years, I think the residency itself is not as bad as the actual practice.

I did my residency at a Ivy-League academic program before the 24-hour work rules, and it was fine as a single/non-married person. In fact, 3 of 6 co-residents had babies during residency. But general ob/gyn can be brutal on one physically and mentally. Most ob/gyn are pretty unhappy. I think if you love ob/gyn you should definitely go for it, but if you have any doubts now, really think about other options.

When people say you can limit your practice or just "join a large group" can you explain how this works in real life?

I met at least 5-6 OB/GYNs in a community medicine rotation, and not a one would recommend the specialty. In fact, I was urged to think of other things. And I am. I have the power to not choose that lifestyle if I don't want to do that, and I like a lot of other things in medicine, so I don't feel like I am sacrificing anything.

However, I would love to hear why people's solutions of "just join a large practice" or "it isn't that bad as an attending" or the class "I know many OBs who are really happy and don't work that much" don't work out in real life. I think many of my classmates or the fourth-years at my school do an OB rotation, love it, and then don't think about the law of diminishing value...the first ice cream cone was awesome, but when they have the 20th ice cream cone at 3am in the morning that ice cream cone isn't so fun or great anymore. At least that was how an attending in OB/GYN explained it to me. Is this spot on?

I've also read stats that say that one is guaranteed to be sued at least once every seven years now. Litigation against you is 100% guaranteed in your lifetime of practice. Would you agree with this from your reading/experience in the field?

I really don't know too many general ob attendings who are not working very much. A lot of people go into subspecialties such as MFM or REI to limit their work hours.

I work part-time for a group that I used to work full time for (where I did deliveries/took calls). I don't make much now, but it's my choice. I can't say that I miss that part of my life. However, most groups expect you to take calls. The most junior partner usually takes the most calls. I do have to agree with you that the joy of delivery a baby does wear off after first 100's or so.

Getting sued is part of medicine these days, but especially true for obgyn. as a resident, I was named in 3 different law suits, but each time, I was dropped from the case, or the plaintiff decided to drop the case. Maybe because I was a large university hospital with a lot of high risk cases or maybe philadelphia has a very litigious environment. I can't speak for all obgyn, but getting sued, for me, is very likely to happen.

I think I underestimate how important life style would be when I was a medical student.