Academic OB/GYN

When one is a medical student, pretty much everything one does is directly supervised.  Though a student is allowed to assess patients and make recommendations, rarely is a student given the autonomy to make decisions that will affect patients.  They practice these decisions, but there is always someone more senior ratifying them.

Once a student becomes  a resident, things start to change.  As residents are physicians, they have the power to write orders and have them executed without anyone else approving of them.  In the beginning, this is a scary power for the resident, as they are terrified they will hurt someone.  At the same time, it a welcome reward after years of having to ask someone’s permission to do anything at all.

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