This Last month I have been on my OB-GYN rotation at St. Anne's hospital in Columbus. I know what you are thinking: "So how did THAT go?"
Actually I liked it quite a bit. I got to participate in a lot of neat surgery, procedures, and deliveries.
My first night on call I met a couple in Labor and Delivery getting ready to push out the latest addition to their family. I introduced myself as a 3rd year medical student and they asked me if I had caught any babies yet. I replied I hadn't and much to my surprise they asked me if I wanted to catch theirs. "You gotta start somewhere." they said. I was honored to start with their baby. (I didn't drop her either.) Mom and baby did great.
Catching babies is warm, wet, slippery, cheesy, bloody and awesome. Cesarean sections are essentially the same but with more sharp things. It is probably one of the bloodiest surgeries I have seen so far. I now have mad skills when it comes to bladder retraction, cutting suture strands, suctioning smoke from the cautery device and amniotic fluid, and stapling abdomens back together. (The few things they actually let a med student do. Sigh)I did get to be the first assistant in a few cases which was great.
Gyn surgery is very interesting also. I saw abdominal, vaginal and laparoscopic hysterectomies, cyst and fibroid removals, tubal ligations, D&C's (nope its not just a book of scripture) and hysteroscopy. One of the more interesting surgeries that I saw was a laparoscopic fibroid removal. Fibroids are basically benign tumors consisting of smooth muscle cells and fibrous connective tissue. They tend to be found in the uterine wall. They are the most common reason for hysterectomy but in some situations a woman may opt for a myomectomy, removal of the fibroid from the uterine wall, rather than a full on hysterectomy. This is possible because fibroids are well encapsualted and can usually be pulled out in one big round chunky yellow mass. It is extremely satisfying when they yank one out -kind of like the feeling you get after you pop a nice ripe zit. Gross I know, but that's the only way I can describe it.
There is a lot about this specialty I really like: a good percentage of the patients are young and healthy, there is a good mix of surgery and clinic, you have to be well rounded as an OB-GYN can sometimes be the only doc that some of these patients see. This is the only specialty where people come to the hospital for a happy reason and its only av4 year residency program. I also felt like I got along well with the residents and attending physicians. I was much more comfortable around them than some of the other surgeons I have shadowed. Another interesting thing is that 80% of the applicants to OB-GYN are now female and males are in high demand. A male applicant with good grades and board scores can potentially go wherever he wants.
The subject material of OB-GYN can be very sensitive most if not all of the time but I found that I really enjoyed talking to and interacting with patients in this setting. As long as one can be empathetic and understanding, I have heard that most women don't care if they have a male or a female for their OB-GYN.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
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