Welcome to the MCG OB/GYN Clerkship
The faculty, residents and staff of the
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology warmly welcome you. We hope you
come to share in our excitement as we model for you the wide variety of
experiences that the practice of Women’s Health affords. We deliver care
to females of all ages, but primarily beginning at adolescence,
extending through the reproductive years and on beyond menopause. Ours
is a specialty that affords many practice options and a number of
subspecialties. The specialty of obstetrics and gynecology is dynamic -
growing, changing and evolving in response to patient population needs,
treatment modalities, economic influences and political/legislative
concerns.
You will find that physicians practicing
Obstetrics and Gynecology have extremely interesting and varied
professional lives. OB/GYN is a specialty in which practice can be quite
diverse…from practicing primary outpatient care such as annual periodic
exams of healthy women to in vitro fertilization; from simple diagnostic
laparoscopic procedures to the complex subspecialty surgical care in
gynecologic oncology or urogynecology; from routine prenatal care and
delivery to highly interventive care of pregnant women with severe
medical illnesses.
Michele Manting, MD, MEd
Director, Undergraduate Medical Education
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
BB7513
Office: (706) 721-2543
You may also contact the
Clerkship Coordinator
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
BB7524
Office:
(706) 721-2543
During the OB/GYN clerkship, you will be exposed
to normal and pathologic conditions associated with the female
reproductive organs. You will also be introduced to broader concepts of
primary care for women with emphasis on preventive care and periodic
screening. Through your participation in direct patient contact in
clinics, wards, operating room and labor and delivery suites, women’s
health should come alive for you! Regardless of intended specialty, many
students have told us that delivering a new baby into the world is the
highlight of their medical career.
On this clerkship, student education is paramount. In addition to providing an outstanding clinical experience, we strive to prepare you well for the NBME examinations occurring in your 4th year. A significant portion of your experience on the clerkship is deliberately constructed to prepare you for the nationally recognized Women’s Health Educational Objectives as outlined in your required text. These experiences include lectures from outstanding faculty, seminars centered around case-based learning, practica focusing on skills preparation, and computer-assisted instruction. At MCG, our residents are renowned for their teaching skills and often provide informal 5-10 minute lectures as well. At the end of the rotation, each student has the opportunity to prepare for NBME Step 2 CS through participation in a mini-OSCE/oral examination.
During the course of this rotation, regardless of which service you find yourself, please keep in mind the basic goals are all the same. The fundamental purpose of the obstetrics and gynecology clerkship is to provide a structured environment in which each medical student acquires a basic knowledge of obstetrics and gynecology. It is this practice of Women’s Health Care from a medical, surgical and emotional standpoint which will serve as a foundation for providing quality health care to women regardless of which field of medicine you may enter.
In the end, we recognize learning is an active process which can be accomplished only by the student. The role of the faculty is to provide guidance, stimulation, and example. You should keep in mind that although we wish you to become as involved with the care of your patients as possible, it is your principle obligation to use this clerkship to its full advantage to develop a pattern of self-education that will serve you well for many years to come. This means that although the day-to-day bustle of clinically related activity may thrust you into the role of a physician-in-training; it is the continual acquisition of information and the development of judgment that will help you become excellent physicians. The process is a lifelong responsibility that extends far beyond medical school and residency. Be wary of your instincts, if, during this short rotation, you hear yourself saying in answer to a question, “Because we do it that way.” Your task as third year students is to delve beneath the what seems to be "routine": to ask, understand and in the end be able to explain to us with insight why you think we do things the way we do.
Should you encounter any problems or have questions, please contact Dr. Michele Manting or the Clerkship Coordinator.