Interested in obstetrics but not medicine
Hi I was wondering if anyone could help, I really want to be an obstetrician because the whole delivering babies is extremely interesting to me, i know you could just see then be a midwife, but its not well paid at all, unsocial hours and most of it is relieving pain, while an obstetrician is used more for serious cases, only really there for the birth and is paid decently. I could have the grades for medicine, but medicine in general really doesn't interest me, and i would really not like F1 and F2 years (unless they were with an obstetrician), any ideas on what to do? thanks
Scroll to see replies
Original post by LauraMxx
Hi I was wondering if anyone could help, I really want to be an obstetrician because the whole delivering babies is extremely interesting to me, i know you could just see then be a midwife, but its not well paid at all, unsocial hours and most of it is relieving pain, while an obstetrician is used more for serious cases, only really there for the birth and is paid decently. I could have the grades for medicine, but medicine in general really doesn't interest me, and i would really not like F1 and F2 years (unless they were with an obstetrician), any ideas on what to do? thanks
Right so medicine doesn't interest you at all and you're not willing to train to become a doctor? More to the point how do you know you want to be an OB-GYN? (note you have to also work in Gynecology) The majority of med students who go in with ideal specialisation change their minds.
Maybe go back to the drawing board?
Ps. I'm sure most OB-GYN medics would say their job is also underpaid and with unsociable hours.
(edited 13 years ago)
If you genuinely have no interest in medicine as a whole, you are going to have 8 years of misery\boredom before getting to be even a baby obstetrician (assuming you get a training post). And you'll still be bored by the gynae side. Obstetrics is particularly bad in terms of antisocial hours compared with other medical\surgical specialties and I don't think you'd be much worse off as a midwife in this respect. Midwives' pay is lower but not bad and you'll be several years ahead and paying off a smaller debt. There is a career pathway for "consultant midwives" who earn quite a bit more, or management roles - as with nursing the top money is away from the bedside.
I think the anaesthetists would take issue with the notion that midwives are for pain relief!
This probably should be in its own thread TBH.
I think the anaesthetists would take issue with the notion that midwives are for pain relief!
This probably should be in its own thread TBH.
(edited 13 years ago)
Original post by Huw Davies
I think the anaesthetists would take issue with the notion that midwives are for pain relief!
I think the anaesthetists would take issue with the notion that midwives are for pain relief!
Either Renal is busy, or he's just building up a head of steam
If you don't want to be a midwife and don't want to train as a doctor, then there isn't really another way of being put in charge of women's pregnancies and their babies! Plus OBGYN is not just about delivering babies, you have to be medically qualified so you can deal with things that can go wrong during a pregnancy or whilst giving birth. a midwife would handle an average pregnancy just fine but if there is a medical complication, he/she would have to call in a doctor to deal with it. You can't have your cake and eat it too. At the end of the day, you are going to be dealing with human life, two at a time for that matter so you can't just waltz in and run the show.
How about a nurse? Senior nurses (or physician's assistants) single-handedly run the neonatal intensive care units...it is a lot quicker than medicine in terms of the time it takes to begin working in your speciality, although the pay difference is quite substantial!
Original post by LauraMxx
Hi I was wondering if anyone could help, I really want to be an obstetrician because the whole delivering babies is extremely interesting to me, i know you could just see then be a midwife, but its not well paid at all, unsocial hours and most of it is relieving pain, while an obstetrician is used more for serious cases, only really there for the birth and is paid decently. I could have the grades for medicine, but medicine in general really doesn't interest me, and i would really not like F1 and F2 years (unless they were with an obstetrician), any ideas on what to do? thanks
Go be a madwive. Honestly. You will spend years of misery learning about inflammatory bowel disease and myopathies, followed by jobs that don't interest you in the slightest before you can become a gynae SHO dealing with all the sick post op patients on the ward, a million miles away from the labour ward.
"Only there for the birth"? What? You will be doing heaps of office based antenatal clinics, antenatal screenings, MDT meetings, referrals for high risk obstetric cases, seeing emergency stuff in A&E...I think the older you get, the less the desire to spend a night on the labour ward!!
I'm in my 3rd year of medschool and have yet to see any obstetrics. I think we spend 8 weeks doing it in the whole 5 years. So if you're not interested in any other aspect of medicine you're going to be pretty miserable!
And obstetricians also deal with gynacological problems, so if you're not interested in that aspect then it's probably not the job for you. They also have some of the worse oncall hours, and, as saidd above, have to do clinics, screenings, etc so aren't 'only there for the birth'. Maybe just go for the midwife option.
And obstetricians also deal with gynacological problems, so if you're not interested in that aspect then it's probably not the job for you. They also have some of the worse oncall hours, and, as saidd above, have to do clinics, screenings, etc so aren't 'only there for the birth'. Maybe just go for the midwife option.
Original post by LauraMxx
Hi I was wondering if anyone could help, I really want to be an obstetrician because the whole delivering babies is extremely interesting to me, i know you could just see then be a midwife, but its not well paid at all, unsocial hours and most of it is relieving pain, while an obstetrician is used more for serious cases, only really there for the birth and is paid decently. I could have the grades for medicine, but medicine in general really doesn't interest me, and i would really not like F1 and F2 years (unless they were with an obstetrician), any ideas on what to do? thanks
midwife for you am afraid.
obstetricians spend relatively little of their time delivering babies.
yes we are also talking about dealing with complicated pregnancies. How can you handle delivery of a bay from a woman with HIKV if you know nothing about medicine etc/ Obstetricians are also surgeons, so you know to know a bit more than just hold you hands out to receive the package.
Original post by LauraMxx
Hi I was wondering if anyone could help, I really want to be an obstetrician because the whole delivering babies is extremely interesting to me, i know you could just see then be a midwife, but its not well paid at all, unsocial hours and most of it is relieving pain, while an obstetrician is used more for serious cases, only really there for the birth and is paid decently. I could have the grades for medicine, but medicine in general really doesn't interest me, and i would really not like F1 and F2 years (unless they were with an obstetrician), any ideas on what to do? thanks
Good question, without trying to sound like an arse medicine is the last thing you want.
Obstetricians only handle complicated births. So instrumental deliveries, vaginal tears, post-partum haemorrhages, c-sections etc. If you want to see babies being born, don't be an obstetrician - because you'll actually spend most of your time on the obstetric ward with the women who are only ~20-35 weeks pregnant and are having problems like PV bleeding, vomitting etc.
The midwives do the normal births and although you are right that they can prescribe some painkillers (even some suprinsngly potent ones like pethidine) actually most of them tend to be quite anti-excessive pain relief. The midwives big thing is 'normalising birth', so they tend to try and focus on it as a natural process and de-medicalise it as much as possible. Even in an obstetrician birth (like a forceps delivery) the midwife will still be there.
You may also be suprised to know that FY1 pay is about £24K per year and I *think* midwife starting pay is about £20K so really there isn't that much difference to start with. If anything midwife pay is offset by the fact the cost of the course is covered with NHS bursaries whereas in medicine you will accumulate a rediculous amount of debt. It's only when you start looking at pay 15 years into the jobs that you see a big difference. The pay increases reasonably equally (ish), except midwives hit a pay ceiling at about £35-40K whereas the doctor pay keeps on going right up to at least £75K at consultancy (although remember that is very far into the job) and can go higher.
If seeing babies being born is what you want to do be a midwife. Your pay will be okay and not that different. If you do medicine you'll spend 5 years of your life going through what can at times be hell at medical school, to find yourself stuck on a ward with 95 year olds who have had strokes and are basically dead which is so far away from what you want to do it will be incredibly depressing. Most hospitals don't have obstetric FY1's so it won't be until at least FY2 that you can even get close to pregnant women, and as an FY2 you'll be mostly ward based anyway rather than on the delivery suite. Equally, some medical schools only touch on obstetrics very briefly so you might find in your 5 years of medical school the sum of your obstetric experience is as little as 4-6 weeks. You could theoretically graduate from medical school without ever actually seeing someone give birth.
I hope this helps. If your mind is not made up, I would seriously get some work experience of midwifery. You'll see the relationship between the midwives/obstetricians and I think you'll see yourself come down more on the midwife side of things.
I would say midwifery sounds perfect for you.....
give it a quick look and see if you like it
give it a quick look and see if you like it
Original post by airtones
The midwives do the normal births and although you are right that they can prescribe some painkillers (even some suprinsngly potent ones like pethidine) actually most of them tend to be quite anti-excessive pain relief. The midwives big thing is 'normalising birth', so they tend to try and focus on it as a natural process and de-medicalise it as much as possible.
Original post by Renal
You can spot when it all goes wrong; 'my client' becomes 'your patient'.
"My client" conjures up images of Belle de Jour discussing her latest antics
Original post by digitalis
"My client" conjures up images of Belle de Jour discussing her latest antics
Or "punter"
Original post by Renal
You can spot when it all goes wrong; 'my client' becomes 'your patient'.
Client lying on bed screaming in a pool of blood. Doctor informed.
This is only partly made up.
Midwife consultants can get paid anything up to just under £70,000. Admittedly, it's a promotion you'd get after years and years of on-the-job experience, and there's no guarantee that you'd ever reach that position, but it's not necessarily true that midwives get awful pay.
Also laughing my arse off at the idea that obs & gynae consultants don't have to work unsociable hours; my mother-in-law is one, and believe me, it's not exactly a 9-5 job.
Seriously, don't waste seven years of your life learning stuff that doesn't interest you. Just apply to be a midwife.
Also laughing my arse off at the idea that obs & gynae consultants don't have to work unsociable hours; my mother-in-law is one, and believe me, it's not exactly a 9-5 job.
Seriously, don't waste seven years of your life learning stuff that doesn't interest you. Just apply to be a midwife.
Unless babies have started sending emails 24 hours before they intend to make their way out, then both OBs and midwives HAVE to work unsociable hours. If anything, it's almost like babies go out of their way to come out in the middle of the night lol
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- Medicine
- Does anyone know where I can get obstetrics/midwifery work experience?
- Dating a Doctor
- is my epq idea a good one?
- uni courses
- UCAT study buddy
- Medicine/Psychiatry/Psychology books?
- Still cant choose between medicine and dentistry?
- Dundee medical school or BSMS?
- Intercalation
- Would anybody like to form an AS study group?
- Hate my Course
- Psychiatry work experience year 10
- Should I go into biotechnology or medicine in terms of a job
- medicine and theatre
- how to do super curricular
- Medicine doubts. Unsure if it has enough Maths for me
- Medicine or biomedical science?
- Getting into Medicine
- Wider Research & Activities for Medicine Application
Latest
Trending
Last reply 1 week ago
OFFICIAL A101 Liverpool University Graduate Entry Medicine Thread 2024 EntryMedicine
77
Trending
Last reply 1 week ago
OFFICIAL A101 Liverpool University Graduate Entry Medicine Thread 2024 EntryMedicine
77
