What it's really like as an ob-gyn—from 5 physicians who know

As a medical student, do you ever wonder what it’s like to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology? Over the years, five ob-gyns from around the country and working in a variety of practice settings have taken the time to be featured doctors in the AMA’s "Shadow Me” Specialty Series, which offers advice directly from AMA member physicians about life in their specialties. Check out their insights to help determine whether a career in obstetrics and gynecology might be a good fit for you.

1. Shadowing Brandi Ring, MD

   1. Dr. Ring practices obstetrics and gynecology in Houston and said the most challenging part of the specialty is the dichotomy of emotion you regularly experience. 
   2. “You have a lot of happy medicine, but you also have a lot of very tragic medicine and that may occur in back-to-back patients,” she said. “You need to be there emotionally to support your patients where they are and that sometimes means your own emotions take a back seat to patient care. It can be very emotionally draining.”
   3. This is balanced out by the experience of being a major part of patients’ lives. “They come in to see you and the trust you build is incredible. They trust you to deliver their new baby or to operate on them or sometimes both. As you see patients for longer periods of time, the relationship gets even better, and you get to follow their lives and know you had a part in it. It’s truly amazing,” she said.

2. Shadowing Nariman Heshmati, MD

   1. Dr. Heshmati works in a multispecialty group practice. He said his lifestyle differs quite a bit from what he had envisioned.
   2. “I always knew that obstetrics and gynecology was a hardworking specialty. I saw this as a medical student and later in my residency, so I was prepared to not have much of a work-life balance. However, the specialty has changed to be much more family-friendly—as has much of medicine,” said Dr. Neshmati, who was working in Washington state in 2022, when this profile was published, and now practices medicine in Florida.
   3. He noted that his practice in Washington had specialists in labor and delivery who reduce the call burden, which is only part of a larger effort to improve work-life balance and reduce burnout. “Two different ob-gyns may work completely different schedules based on their wishes and priorities and alter that as life circumstances change,” he said. For example, he had several colleagues working “part-time in order to have more time with their children and the system accommodates those needs well.”

3. Shadowing Kimberly D. Warner, MD

   1. When this profile was written, in 2021, Dr. Warner had been in practice for 22 years and worked about two 25-hour shifts per week for Colorado Permanente Medical Group—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. 
   2. She described the typical ob-gyn as resilient, collaborative and empathic. She also said the most challenging part of the specialty is having two patients at a time. “We always have the mom and the baby, and that's a very emotionally charged time,” she said. “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.”
   3. This is balanced out by seeing healthy moms with their babies and great surgical outcomes. “I feel like I was put on this Earth to take care of moms and babies and women of all ages,” she said. “So having good outcomes is pretty special.”

4. Shadowing Diana Ramos, MD

   1. At the time of this 2021 profile, Dr. Ramos was employed by a state department of public health, a medical school and a health system. Every day was different, she said.
   2. “There is always lots of programmatic work, but I also serve as a media spokesperson and I am part of the in-house labor and delivery team,” she said. “A typical week can be as few as 40 hours or as many as 60.”
   3. She also noted one skill that every physician in training should have for obstetrics and gynecology but won’t be tested for on the board exam: “You have to love what you do. When you are up at 3 a.m. delivering a baby or doing emergency laparoscopic surgery for an ovarian torsion, you have to remember you are there because this is what you love to do,” she said.

5. Shadowing Natasha Prince, MD

   1. Dr. Prince has been in practice for seven years, employed by a group practice within a health system. She said ob-gyn isn’t exempt from burnout.
   2. “Long hours, chronic fatigue and the stress of making critical decisions can take their tolls on the best of us,” she said. “I feel the benefits of working in a group practice with access to the help of other specialty services significantly helps to decrease the risk of burnout and enhances quality of life for everyone in the group. It also is vitally important that you scrutinize your choice of specialty to ensure that you will find reward and fulfillment in the work that you do.”
   3. To that point, she said there’s one key question physicians in training should ask themselves before pursuing a career in ob-gyn: “How do I manage stress? Doctors in every specialty experience a degree of stress, but obstetrics is a different kind of challenge,” she said. “In some ways, it reminds me of working in the emergency department. You are making critical decisions that will affect a mom and a baby, some of which will determine if the mom or the baby survives whatever complication or emergency you are facing. It is important to be honest about your personality and how much you can tolerate this level of stress and responsibility. You might prefer a specialty that’s a little less acute.”

The AMA Specialty Guide simplifies medical students’ specialty selection process, highlights major specialties, details training information, and provides 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, and find out how the AMA Reimagning Residency initiative has funded work to transform the transition from undergraduate to graduate medical education within the specialty.