OB/GYN residency so far: Choosing the Specialty, Expectations, and Growth Mindset
A word on the last ~ 2 years, enjoy!
Choosing Obstetrics & Gynaecology (OB/GYN)
I decided to pursue OB/GYN during my second year of medical school but did not ultimately choose the specialty until after interviewing for both OB/GYN and Family Medicine. The application process helped to affirm my choice – as did my gut feeling. Intuition can often be more helpful than a pros and cons list.
Many of my oldest friends can remember the interest I’ve had in women’s health, particularly childbirth, for years. In our specialty, we often remind people that being an OB/GYN is much more than attending deliveries, however it will always be one of my favourite parts of my job.
During undergrad, you could easily catch me reading or watching videos about obstetrics. When asked by friends what specialty I would want to do if I got into medical school, OB/GYN was my natural guess. Yet, this choice still didn’t come easily to me.
Upon starting medical school, I learned of the numerous ways you can be involved in pregnancy without becoming an OB/GYN. Family doctors are integral to primary maternity care and general internists with a focus on obstetrics help us take care of our sick pregnant and postpartum patients. In reality, I would estimate that the childbirth part of OB/GYN is about half of the day-to-day job. Thus, many people encouraged me to pursue one of these other ways to “catch babies” or take care of pregnant patients. My rotation in third year nurtured my interest in the other half of the job, Gynaecology. I loved the idea of having a job that was fast-paced, surgical, and focussed on taking care of women. I also felt my innate interest in the subject area paired well with having to spend a career dedicated to constant learning.
Some snippets from my cover letter:
As an OB/GYN, I know I will find fulfillment being a confidante for patients during vulnerable moments in their lives, one of which being pregnancy.
As an OB/GYN, I know I will find fulfillment being a confidante for patients during vulnerable moments in their lives, one of which being pregnancy.
The high acuity, surgical focus of this specialty, and the need for a cohesive team environment to facilitate this are aspects of OB/GYN I appreciate.
When you tell a physician that you want to become an OB/GYN, you’ll hear the common idiom — “if you can see yourself being happy doing any other specialty, do that.” I don’t fully subscribe to this recommendation as I hope I would be happy doing many jobs outside of medicine, let alone just this specialty. My happiness being tied to one job feels a bit extreme. I probably would have counted myself out if I had taken this tip literally. But I suppose this does probe prospective applicants to really think about their decision and the toll it can take on your lifestyle. Still, my perspective aligns more with — if you’re having a great time on your OB/GYN rotation in medical school then it might be for you. Don’t count yourself out. Love what you do and you never work a day in your life, right?
First and Second Year Residency
Medicine is often described as ~ * lifelong learning * ~. As such, many people in medicine grow accustomed to tests, studying, and working towards sequential career goals. Each step towards becoming a physician has its challenges. For myself, I went into each with a firm belief in my ability to do anything that came my way. I think this mindset commonly underlies many people that choose this path.
Residency is the closest I have come to breaking this steadfast confidence in myself.
Naturally, everything became much more real in residency. Gone were the pass/fail multiple choice tests with theoretical patients or proposing patient care plans with supervision, and on to making real decisions every day. At UBC, we dedicate the first 8 months to our off-service rotations, rotating through ICU, Emergency Medicine, General Surgery, etc. Starting in March of our first year, we start our general obstetrics and gynaecology rotations, Foundations, with a focus on building the literal foundations of our training.
If you call me or another OB/GYN resident, we’re probably going to talk to you about R2. The infamous, gruelling second year of our residency.
In some ways, it has been just as advertised — exhausting, emotional, and demanding both physically and mentally.
However, all the residents I spoke to came out the other side seemingly affirmed that this specialty was the one for them. All I could hope was to have the same realization and here I am, nearing the end of the most transformative educational year of my life so far.
Finding a Growth Mindset
I remember the first day my staff physician nodded their head toward the scalpel and told me to start at a C-section. By this point, I had seen the surgery countless times but of course it’s very different to do it yourself. I was clumsy and unsure. The operating room is one of my favourite places to be at work now but in those early days, it was the source of immense performance anxiety.
Today it seems obvious to me why we train for five years to become OB/GYNs however at first, my mind still expected me to be skilled quickly. And each day that I wasn’t, I would not only critique myself, I would also tell myself that I wasn’t going to get any better. I became convinced that my skills were related to an intrinsic quality rather than the fact that I was simply a novice.
My concerns led me to learn more about how we learn a skill. The most common tactic I came across was getting more reps. This corresponded well to the structure of residency as with more time comes more reps, so my skills improved. Confiding in my friends in other specialties and even outside of medicine also brought me comfort. Navigating the early days of your career no matter the field brings growing pains. Ultimately, when I reflected on my progress in 3 to 6 month segments, I started to trust the process more and more. Calls that used to terrify me at the beginning of R2 are more routine now and will be even easier in a year:
Overall, I have embraced being a beginner and shifted to a growth mindset. An article by UBC showed up in my inbox and summarizes things well:
Consider shifting your perspective from a performance to a learning mindset. Sometimes, our concentration can be whisked away by striving to perform, and we ignore the process required to effectively intake new information.
Reasonably, adopting a growth mindset allows room for practitioners to learn, fail, and continuously strengthen their skillset.
Recognize the advantages of being a novice: feeling like an imposter is often triggered in midst of developing a new skill. Having a beginner’s mindset allows you to learn with little bias and an abundance of creativity of how you can resolve certain challenges.
There are still days where someone makes me feel like I am behind or not good enough and days where I genuinely do not so great (remember, progress is not linear). Instead of letting these moments define me, I try to remind myself how much I have already improved and how much I will continue to improve. I look at the senior residents and staff and tell myself, if they got through this then there is no reason I will not. If comparison can be at all positive, it is in seeing other people as inspiration of what we are also capable of.
Final Thoughts: Three Takeaways
I must admit that there is a lot I am not sharing here because I want to be concise and this already feels quite personal. R2 has certainly had some low lows. If anyone is interested in medicine or OB/GYN, I am always open to a phone call or a coffee to discuss more about all things mental health and residency. For now, I’ll leave you with a few points:
- Residency has been hard for me. Much harder than I expected if that says anything about my hubris. If residency or your career feel hard for you, you’re not the only one.
- My life got a lot better once I focussed less on my own arbitrary expectations of myself and more on enjoying the process of learning.
- It’s cheesy but you actually can do anything you set your mind to. You can learn any skill. For some, this won’t be something medical but it could be an instrument or another language. I have heard many people say not everyone can be a surgeon and I don’t believe this to be true. If you put in the reps, you will be surprised by how you transform.
Thank you for reading! My inbox is always open for responses and feedback.
Cheers,
Iku
