As promised in my last post in the housejob chronicles series, I’m posting this just a few days after completely the 2nd of 4 postings in my internship year – Obs and Gyne.
I really have gone halfway through my housejob year already. Wow! Time does fly.
After spending 12 weeks in pediatrics, I moved to Obstetrics and Gynecology (Obs and Gyne, O and G, O ‘n’ Chill) for another 12-week long posting.
Obstetrics and gynecology is the aspect of medicine which deals with health issues peculiar to females. It’s divided into 2 parts – Obstetrics (study of and care for women during the pregnancy period) and Gynecology (study of and provision of care for any illness of the female reproductive parts, including female infertility). Some doctors specialize in both aspects while others pick one of the 2 (Depends on the standard in their country of practice).
It’s commonly shortened to O and G which is sometimes further modified to O ‘n’ Chill by medical students because, of the 4 major departments – Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics, O and G – it is often assumed to be the most chilling IE the most relaxed.
I was on call every night for the first 3 weeks of this posting while still having to be around for work during the day. At the end of my first month, I had to approach my medical officer to ask for alternate weekends and my request was granted (sometimes all you need to do is ask).
It didn’t seem like much but it was a relief to have some days (4-6 days) in the month where I didn’t have to work/sleep in the hospital. (Although at the end of the day, I started sleeping in the hospital even when I was not on call😂. Talk about habit formation).
P. S: There’s a bloody picture towards the end of this post. It’s not gory but this is a headsup just in case you’d rather not see it.
Contrary to what I was used to from med school, this posting wasn’t as chilling as expected. Also, most of the other houseofficers I met when I arrived newly had completed their programme, leaving myself and one other houseofficer who was to leave about 6 weeks before I completed my O and G posting (more houseofficers were employed by the time I was 8 weeks in). It was a really busy period work wise and relatively boring in my personal life.
O and G posting wasn’t all doom and gloom though. Despite the stress, I found it to more interesting than my paediatrics posting. I mentioned earlier how accommodating majority of the staff at the hospital were and the case was no different in the O and G department. They welcomed me warmly and I settled in well, in spite of the heavy work load.
I also got to do a lot of hands-on stuff which I would otherwise have missed out on had I done my posting in a different hospital (most of my friends in other hospitals complained about this). By my first week, I was already assisting in cesarean sections, and by my fourth week, I had carried out manual vacuum aspirations and cervical and vaginal laceration repairs (under supervision of course).
During my early weeks, I assisted in an emergency ceaserean which was a bit tough – the fetal head was deeply impacted in the pelvis and almost inaccessible after opening up the uterus for extraction of the baby. A vaginal hand had to be employed in other to push the head back up for extraction (I later learnt that the pull method is faster with less maternal morbidity, although both have similar outcomes). It was a scary one for me and shook my confidence a lot.
I eventually got back on track and by the 8th week, I carried out my first CS with me being the lead surgeon (assisted by an experienced senior doctor). It was fun and scary and exciting. The patient I was to operate on wasn’t the calmest but somehow her fears didn’t get to me as I expected them to. Thankfully, she relaxed by the time she was wheeled into the theatre and all went well.
As is the practice in the hospital, I was to celebrate my first ‘cut’ by buying pounded yam for everyone in the theatre. Lol. I had eaten the same when some other houseofficers also ‘celebrated’ so it only made sense that I honor tradition. Thankfully, it wasn’t to be a banquet, just something light to share and have a good time with colleagues. It was fun really.
Following my successful first surgery, I got to do one more CS before completing my posting. I hoped to do more but most of the subsequent cases were emergencies which I wasn’t qualified to operate. I was able to clock 40 mins in theater on my 2nd surgery, down from 57 minutes in the first and that was really exciting.
The times I operated (as the main surgeon) were easily my best moments in O and G.
Although I spent a good number of my weeks sleeping in the hospital during this posting, I found a way to enjoy it. I accepted what was to come and embraced it, finding ways to ease the stress once in a while. I hope to carry this same spirit with me through the remaining half of this internship year.
Are you a medical doctor currently doing your internship or have you completed it already? Share your experiences in the comment section below!
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