How can I become a part time academic whilst already in a career?

If I want to pursue a career in obstetrics, can I manage a family or work part time only?

• I am having to make my career decision, and would LOVE to pursue a career in obstetrics, however I would also like to be a mom and have time for my children when I have them. Could I work only part time? Or what other career in medicine would be best? How many years would it take me to become an obstetrician starting right after graduation?

• Answer:

  I don't know how it works in Canada, but here in the US, once you get established, YES, YOU CAN WORK PART TIME. However, you still have call. As I've said before, my pet peeve is that people have this notion that being a doctor leaves no time for anything else. As long as you have a stable home environment, you can have a job, a family, and a life. You just have to learn how to balance it properly. I'm friends with an OB/GYN who had her first child a few years ago. She was at her clinic for probably 3 years already. She took her maternity leave then worked full time for awhile. She's then decided to spend more time with her child, so she now works part time as a job share. Her call schedule is still fairly heavy, but it's pretty consistent. Her husband is a stay at home dad. She told me that she will likely stay part time until the child is old enough for full time school (1st grade around here) and then she will reconsider. OBs are not always on call. They don't go whenever their patients go. In my area, if you are an OB and your patient goes at 2am and you aren't on call, your patient sees the on call OB. Let me flip that. If you are pregnant and Dr. Smith is your OB and you go in at 2am, but Dr. Jones is on call, you get Dr. Jones, not Dr. Smith. Dr. Smith will see you before her next workshift or the next time she rounds, if you are still in house. If not, you schedule an appointment with her in clinic. How long does it take to become an OB/GYN? 4 years undergrad college, 4 years med school, 4-5 years residency, and another 3 years if you want to subspecialize with a fellowship. And on a side note, understand that it's rare for a doctor to focus solely on OB and not be a GYN at the same time. I've never even heard of it. With subspecialty, yes, you can do this, but for your average OB, you are usually an OB/GYN.