difference between an Obstetrician, Midwife and Physician assistant

I will be happy to answer your question. An obstetrician is a doctor who specializes in pregnancy. They care for all pregnant women throughout the pregnancy and deliver babies. Usually they are an obstetrician-gynecologist (ob-gyn) so they also do well women care, birth control counseling and prescribing, care for women with medical problems and perform female surgeries. A midwife also does care of pregnant women and delivers babies however generally does not care for high risk pregnancies. Midwives do not surgical deliveries such as cesarean sections and often work with an ob-gyn in a collaborative practice. Midwives may also offer well women care but do not do surgery. A physician assistant (PA) works in a collaborative practice with an doctor to provide care and those who work in women's health provide a wide spectrum of care. The number of PAs in women's health is small however they provide a wide variety of care. There are some PAs who do well women care but not pregnancy and there are some who do office care of pregnant women. Other PAs work on Labor and Delivery where they participate in deliveries and may assist on cesarean sections or other surgeries. PAs may also assist in the operating room and care of hospitalized ob-gyn patients.

I'm an obstetrician-gynecologist (Ob-Gyn), have worked with midwives and have been teaching in physician assistant (PA) programs for the past 6 years so I might be able to shed a bit of light on the family side of things. Training for an ob-gyn requires four years of college (bachelors), four years of medical school (MD) and four years of residency. All of the women ob-gyns I know have families (I have two daughters) but most had their children after residency so a bit later in life. Babies do seem to have a habit of being born at night but most of us practice in groups so that we have time to be home with our families. PAs and midwives tend to have a more predictable schedule and their training is shorter - both are masters degrees so you would need four years of college and two years of PA or Midwifery school. PAs and midwives may or may not take call, depending on where they work . They often have a scheduled shift arrangement even if they do take call, it is more predictable. If you are a PA you must have a supervising physician so if your supervising doctor works at a birthing center, then you may work there too. If he or she does not, then you may not work there. The rules for midwives and birthing centers vary from state to state but in general midwives work at both hospitals and birthing centers.

I hope this was helpful and good luck finding the right career.