[Career trajectories of obstetrician-gynecologists]

Abstract

Objectives: To analyze the career paths of gynecologists-obstetricians to identify the factors that lead them to stop practicing obstetrics or on-call duties.

Material and methods: A questionnaire was sent to 162 gynecologists-obstetricians who began their residency in the Hauts-de-France region between 2003 and 2014. The questions covered their personal life and professional background.

Results: The respondents were predominantly women (83%) with a median age of 37 years. The respondents mostly worked in the public sector (64%), full-time (77%), and practiced obstetrics (80%). Participation in obstetric activities significantly decreases over time (P<0.001): 95% practiced it in their first position, 43% did so in their fourth position. Eighty percent still participated in on-call duties, but 40% were considering stopping (almost half of them within the next 5 years). Significant factors associated with stopping obstetrics included older age, being male, and practicing surgery. The cessation of on-call duties was significantly associated with age, number of children, involvement in assisted reproductive technology, medical gynecology, or private practice.

Conclusion: The obstetricians and gynecologists in this study still predominantly practice obstetrics and participate in on-call duties after a median of 7 years in practice. However, both activities decrease over time, which is a challenge for medical demographics and represents a major risk to the sustainability of obstetrics services.

Keywords: Carrière; Continuity of care; Gardes; Gynécologues-obstétriciens; Night shifts career; Obstetrician-gynecologists; Obstetrics; Obstétrique; On-call duty; Permanence de soins.