When I grow up - Obstetrics & Gynaecology (OBGYN)

Although you may mostly be worried about GAMSAT® Exam preparation and GAMSAT® Exam results for now, some of you may already be thinking about your future specialty. So let’s look beyond GAMSAT® Exam preparation and medical school applications for a second. Many amongst you are aiming for Obstetrician/Gynaecologist (OBGYN).  It must be pretty awesome, right, delivering beautiful babies into the world all day? Well, yes, assisting a woman’s birthing process is a rewarding experience for most medical staff, however that is a small part of the duties and tasks of an OBGYN in the hospital.

So let’s talk about the ins and outs of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Let’s be frank, OBGYN is a competitive and popular training pathway, for both men and women in the medical profession. Of late, OBGYN has attracted a significant number of female doctors to the profession. Of 268 applicants to RANZCOG (The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists), 220 were female, 48 were male. While it’s quite refreshing to see a field tip the scales in favour of females, why that discrepancy?

Flexibility

OBGYN is a somehow flexible career path and the training itself, of 6 years duration, can be somehow flexible. But the flexibility extends beyond the ability to simply complete some of the training part-time (which may be attractive to some female applicants if they wish to have a child). The entire field of OBGYN is flexible because of the diversity of clinical presentations, and ability to sub-specialise, crafting your own way through the field. For example;

• Gynaecology: The bread and butter of day-in, day-out work involves a mix of management of patients on wards, medical clinic work (speaking with and assessing patients for a range of clinical manifestations), and surgical intervention in theatre.

• Obstetrics: The bread and butter of this component of training, involves management of patients on wards, clinic work, birth suites and surgical intervention in theatre. But the types of patients you’ll be working will be quite special as there are often two lives in your hands.

 

Intensity

Numbers of rumours circulate through the medical profession that the only person that gets less sleep than an insomniac is an Obstetrician. Whilst, at times, due to very busy schedules and unpredictable events in birth suite or wards, this rumours may have some foundations, the everyday schedule of an OBGYN doctor is comparable to that of any other registrar in their training. As a registrar responsible for the care of patients on a ward, your day might start at 7:30am and finish around 7pm at night, depending on your commitments for the day. If you’re on night shifts in birth suite, you’ll work overnight for one week, then the entirety of the following week is off! If you manage to complete your OBGYN training, you can practice publicly or privately (and if privately, you can dictate what your hours are, and what specific type of work you want to do).

Pay

Remuneration should certainly not be a reason for entering the medical workforce. However, financial incentives for working long hours under challenging circumstances are understandable. The income of an OBGYN changes throughout one’s working life, depending on experience, progression (level of trainee) and your specific hospital’s salary packaging programme. In general, OBGYN would be considered a moderately well remunerated career.
 

A day in the life of an OBGYN is diverse. One day you can be speaking to a patient about bleeding and pain, the next you’re delivering a child and the next hour you’re in surgery. My personal experience with Obstetrics and Gynaecology has been thoroughly enjoyable, filled with emotion and learning. Your own experience through an OBGYN, or Women’s Health rotation, can be as involved as you want it to be. Personally, I chose not to emulate many of my fellow male students who tried to get out of this rotation as quickly as possible and I did my best to integrate myself as part of the team: I attended daily ward rounds, assisted the residents with ward duties, actively participated in clinics, assisting whenever possible in birth suites (having the opportunity to maneuver a newborn through the birth canal is pretty cool!), and assisted with laparoscopic surgeries and Caesarian sections.
 

OBGYN is a highly flexible, craftable and rewarding career. I hope this bite-size insight into the profession aids you to gain the most from your Women’s Health rotations and helps decide whether OBGYN is a career for you. Ultimately, experience will help you decide. As for now, get back to your GAMSAT® Exam preparation so you can be out on these wards yourself soon!

To learn more about how to become a doctor in Australia and what are the pathways available to you, check out our blog article How to Become a Doctor in Australia.