Obstetrics and gynaecology | Health Careers
Doctors in obstetrics and gynaecology (O&G) care for pregnant women and unborn children, and look after women’s sexual and reproductive health.
You’ll start off in both obstetrics and gynaecology.
Life as an O&G doctor
Obstetrics and gynaecology is a varied role combining medicine and surgery so many of your patients will be healthy people going through a life change.
In obstetrics, midwives handle most of the low risk care and uncomplicated deliveries. You’ll deal with more complicated pregnancies and births and perform procedures such as caesarean sections.
In gynaecology, your patients will be women of all ages. You could be involved in anything from keyhole surgery through to advising on fertility treatment.
There is no typical day in obstetrics and gynaecology, which is part of the appeal. This is a 24/7 role. Working in a multidisciplinary team on the labour ward is a major aspect of the job, so you can expect to be on-call and workout of hours at times.
You’ll probably work on a shift system, beginning with ward rounds, and including working in an outpatient clinic, an operating theatre list or a specialist clinic.
This is an exciting area, where techniques developed over the past 30 years have transformed the lives of women and babies and continue to do so at a rapid pace.
