Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Obstetrics and Gynaecology are two distinct medical specialities that in general deal with the female human body. There have been numerous changes and growth in these areas over the years that practitioners of the two, in modern times, are actually trained together. That is why more often than not they are normally merged as a single specialty. You probably have seen them numerous times abbreviated as OB/GYN, O&G; or OBG. Even though they are grouped as one specialty, there are differences.

Obstetrics and Gynecology (often abbreviated to OB/GYN, OBG, O&G; or Obs & Gynae) is the medical specialty that deals with obstetrics and gynecology. The postgraduate training program for both aspects is unified. This combined training prepares the practicing OB/GYN to be adept at the care of female reproductive organs' health and at the management of pregnancy.
Obstetricians and gynecologists bring new life into the world. Mark S. DeFrancesco, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, writes in an email: "You cannot imagine what it feels like to deliver a baby – to be the first person to hold another new life in your hands and help create a new family!" But catching babies isn't these professionals’ only task. Obstetricians and gynecologists care for the spectrum of women's reproductive health. Obstetrics is the surgical field that deals in childbirth, whereas gynecology is the field of medicine concerned with women's health, especially their reproductive health. One can be a gynecologist and not an obstetrician, though one cannot be an obstetrician without being a gynecologist. OB-GYNs see patients in physicians' offices for routine "well- woman" exams, which could include contraceptive management and HPV screening.

They also assist patients who come to them with issues like abnormal bleeding. "To be able to accurately diagnose and successfully treat these problems is extremely gratifying," DeFrancesco writes. And of course, OB-GYNs also work in the labor and delivery section of hospitals, monitoring mothers and babies during labor and – when things don't go as planned – making medical decisions to protect the lives of both.