Dr. Cherrie Morris MD Answers Negative Opinions...

"Yes!! Kids and medicine can mix and very well at that!...so don't be discouraged for those of you who love the field of ob/gyn! Let's clear a few things up first: #1 ob/gyn is not a male dominant field. When I entered residency in 1994, three out of six of us were female. The incoming interns the year I graduated were all female. The most recent stats show that at least 50% of the new ob/gyn residents are female. Look around at who is speaking at our meetings and who is publishing, women ob/gyns! Most importantly who do you think the patients want to see if given a choice, a male or female ob/gyn? My new patient slots fill as soon as they open, my new patients wait 3 months just to get in with a female!! This is a perfect time to be a successful female ob/gyn. #2 I'm not sure what seriously wanting to raise kids means, but if it means personally being home with the kids, then any full time career would hinder that. No doubt having a serious career and wanting a family is a lot of hard work and sacrifice. It's not a decision one makes lightly, without thinking out the consequences and details. Good planning is essential. Knowing your options for childcare and what your comfortable with, having family available and how flexible your spouse's career is are all issues that need to be considered when planning to have children.

During residency we do not have much control over the hours we work. I was lucky enough to plan both my pregnancies during residency to avoid the most grueling rotations when my fundal heights were peaking. Then again, you also have to consider the possibility of having a complicated pregnancy and the kind of situation that may bring, e.g. if you had preterm labor and required extended time off work, which may mean you spend extra time in residency or working extra call after returning to work.

Once in private practice there is alot of flexibility. You can join say a 5 person group, that means 1 in 5 call, not even 1 weekend a month, but when your on call your busy, busy! You can join a smaller group, more call but maybe not as busy. Academics usually can work well too. Most university based docs share call with the entire staff ( maybe just 1 a month! ) but you may have additional responibilities too ( like teaching). There were three docs in our practice (we just added a new partner, hooray!) which gave me about 10 call days a month (1 to 2 weekends). I have a 4 day work week, we always have one day off a week and one half day for surgery only. It works really well for me.

Ob/gyn is a demanding field but you can control how much you want to work. What's important is deciding what your comfortable with. If you feel your career will interfere with the kind of family life you envision then you need to make changes, can your spouse give up his career and be the stay at home person? (ob/gyns have pretty good earning potential), are there family members to help care for the kids? Can you find childcare your comfortable with? How much do you want to give to your career, what are the options?

Don't be discouraged, ob/gyn is a wonderful choice for women, whether you have a family, or are planning one or not, it can work and work well!"

Cherrie Morris MD
Fort Myers, Florida

Dr. Morris is a 37 y/o mom of two. She currently works for the Lee Physician Group as 1 of a 4 person private ob/gyn practice, Campbell, Devall, Morris and Ebenger. Dr. Morris graduated from residency in 1998 from USF in Tampa and attended med school at UMDNJ-Newark. Her mom takes care of the kids as well as her husband who works only part time.

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