An obstetrician provides care during pregnancy and delivers babies. A gynecologist doesn’t treat people who are pregnant or deliver babies, but specializes in the female reproductive system. It’s common for healthcare providers to combine these two areas of medicine. This is called obstetrics and gynecology or Ob/Gyn
While OB/GYN is considered one specialty, it comprises two distinct fields. Obstetrics (the OB) involves care during pre-conception, pregnancy, childbirth, and immediately after delivery. Gynecology (the GYN) involves care of all women’s health issues.
Functions of an obstetrician
Gynecologists and obstetricians both deal with the wellbeing of females and obstetricians especially deal with pregnant mothers. The procedures and functions that they perform include:-
- Normal delivery and performing essential assisting steps. Obstetricians are responsible for working in collaboration with midwives to monitor and assist normal delivery in a woman during labour.
- Their functions include facilitating delivery by performing episiotomy that involves placing strategic cuts over the perineum of the pregnant mother to enlarge the birth canal.
- Sometimes prolonged labour might require assistance to speed up the process in order to reduce maternal fatigue and fetal distress (rising heart rate and possible brain damage to the baby). This uses techniques like forceps delivery and vacuum assisted delivery.
- Caesarean (or C) section that requires surgical removal of the baby from the mother’s womb to reduce the complications that arise during labour. These complications in turn may cause death or damage to the newborn unless delivery is expedited with C section.
- Diagnosis and treatment of ectopic pregnancy. Ectopic pregnancy occurs when the fertilized ovum gets implanted in any place other than the womb. Commonly it gets implanted in the fallopian tubes.
