As a medical student, do you ever wonder what it's like to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology? Meet AMA member Kimberly D. Warner, MD, an obstetrics and gynecology specialist and a featured physician in the AMA's “Shadow Me” Specialty Series, which offers advice directly from physicians about life in their specialties. Check out her insights to help determine whether a career in obstetrics and gynecology might be a good fit for you.
TThe AMA's Specialty Guide simplifies medical students' specialty selection process by highlighting major specialties, detailing training information and providing access to related association information. It is produced by FREIDA™, the AMA Residency & Fellowship Database®.
Learn more with the AMA about the medical specialty of obstetrics and gynecology.
“Shadowing” Dr. Kimberly D. Warner
Specialty: Obstetrics and gynecology.
Practice setting: Hospital.
Employment type: Employed by Colorado Permanente Medical Group (CPMG), in Denver, Colorado. Colorado Permanente Medical Group is a member of the AMA Health System Program, which provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine.
Years in practice: 28.
A typical day and week in my practice: I work about two 24-hour shifts per week, so around 50 hours total, generally in the hospital, plus whatever meetings I have. I also do government relations; when the state legislature is in session, I go to the Capitol every Wednesday with our government relations health plan lead. Those weeks come to about 60 hours.
The most challenging and rewarding aspects of obstetrics and gynecology: The most challenging part is having two patients at a time. We always have the mom and the baby, and that's a very emotionally charged time. It’s important to connect quickly, build trust and acknowledge that this is a life-changing event. You want to make it incredibly meaningful, special and safe.
The most rewarding part is seeing healthy moms and babies, or a great surgical outcome.
I feel like I was put on this Earth to take care of moms and babies and women of all ages. So having good outcomes is pretty special.
The impact burnout has on obstetrics and gynecology: Ob-gyn is demanding work with long hours—many of our hours occur after 5 p.m. It is also a female-dominated specialty, and women also have many competing, time-consuming and important roles that require significant attention. Most women are the primary caregivers and schedule makers for families and responsible for many of the decisions in the home. This can be one of the major causes of burnout. The increasing administrative burdens in medicine are yet another.
How Colorado Permanente Medical Group is reducing physician burnout: CPMG is aware of the increasing prevalence and impact of physician burnout. We have a very robust wellness committee dedicated to the identification of reasons for burnout and combating them. We have availability for mental health consultations, and we also benefit from tips on mindfulness, quality sleep, exercise and camaraderie.
How my lifestyle matches, or differs from, what I had envisioned: I knew there would be long hours and late nights—obviously, babies come at all times of day, and surgeries come in the middle of the night too. What I didn't know, no pun intended, is how labor intensive my job is. I run from room to room and then to the OR. And I often get sweaty during surgeries and deliveries. Sometimes I’m pushing with patients for hours and I wake up sore. I didn’t anticipate that.
Skills every physician in training should have for obstetrics and gynecology but won’t be tested for on the board exam: I don't think empathy comes across very well in a testing situation.
You must have an open heart and connect quickly with patients. Communication is imperative, whether it's with your team or with patients.
And you have to have a certain amount of resilience, some pretty decent self-confidence, where you’re confident in the decisions you're making and you can portray your confidence to patients.
One question physicians in training should ask themselves before pursuing obstetrics and gynecology: How important is sleep to you? I had been an eight-hour-a-night person for most of my life, but this specialty doesn’t often allow that.
Books, podcasts or other resources every medical student interested in obstetrics and gynecology should be reading or listening to:
- Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese, MD. It's about delivering twins to a mom who dies soon after and one of the twins going on to become a doctor.
- The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant. It has important insights into how women support each other.
- Girls & Sex, by Peggy Orenstein. It features eye-opening research on how girls from their teens through college are experiencing sex, and it’s disturbing.
The online resource students interested in obstetrics and gynecology should follow: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. It has all kinds of recent research and data on ob-gyn.
Additional advice I would to give students who are considering obstetrics and gynecology: You have to have a passion for what you do, and you really need to love it. Otherwise, it could damage your soul. Really investigate that. Listen to yourself.
