OB-GYN Interview Questions
& Model Answers, 2026

Call for help and note the time, discourage pushing and avoid fundal pressure, then work a structured sequence: McRoberts positioning and suprapubic pressure, delivery of the posterior arm, internal rotational manoeuvres, and consider an episiotomy for access rather than as a treatment in itself. Move to all-fours positioning and then to the last-resort manoeuvres if needed. Document times and manoeuvres contemporaneously, examine the neonate, and debrief with the family — dystocia documentation is a defining medico-legal record.

Call for help, quantify blood loss rather than estimating, and work the causes in parallel with resuscitation: uterine atony first with massage and uterotonics in sequence, then trauma with a systematic examination for lacerations and haematoma, retained tissue, and coagulopathy. Escalate through tamponade balloon, tranexamic acid, uterine compression sutures, arterial ligation or embolisation, and hysterectomy. Activate massive transfusion early rather than late and assign roles explicitly.

Category one is normal with baseline within range, moderate variability, no late or variable decelerations. Category three is either absent variability with recurrent late or variable decelerations or bradycardia, or a sinusoidal pattern, and it requires prompt intervention and usually delivery. Category two is everything in between and is common, so the answer must be about action: intrauterine resuscitation with position change, fluids, oxygen consideration, stopping oxytocin, treating hypotension, and reassessment with a defined time frame and an escalation threshold.

Give the individualised chance of success based on prior indication, prior vaginal delivery, body mass index and cervical status, the uterine rupture risk for a low transverse incision, and the comparative maternal risks of repeat caesarean including placenta accreta spectrum in future pregnancies. State the facility requirements — immediate availability of surgical and anaesthetic teams — and document the shared decision. Then be explicit that the patient's values drive the choice.

Choose the least invasive route the pathology and anatomy allow — vaginal, laparoscopic or robotic before abdominal — considering uterine size, mobility, prior surgery, malignancy and the need for concurrent procedures. To protect the ureter: know its course, identify it at the pelvic brim, develop the pararectal and paravesical spaces where needed, skeletonise the uterine vessels close to the uterus, and use cystoscopy where risk is elevated. Say when you would ask for urology in advance.

Stabilise the mother first: control severe hypertension with an appropriate agent, magnesium sulphate for seizure prophylaxis, strict fluid balance, laboratory surveillance for HELLP, and continuous fetal monitoring. Then decide timing — corticosteroids for fetal lung maturity if delivery can be safely delayed, delivery for uncontrollable hypertension, eclampsia, pulmonary oedema, abruption, deteriorating laboratory values or non-reassuring fetal status. Involve maternal-fetal medicine and neonatology and plan the level of care.

Structure it with the accepted classification of structural and non-structural causes: history and examination, pregnancy test, full blood count and thyroid and coagulation screening where indicated, pelvic ultrasound with saline infusion sonohysterography for cavity assessment, and endometrial sampling given the age and risk factors for hyperplasia and carcinoma. Then treat by cause and by the patient's fertility and contraception wishes, escalating from medical management to hysteroscopic or definitive surgery.

Describe the case, your decisions, the disclosure to the family, the review, and what changed in your practice or the unit's protocol. Obstetrics carries the highest litigation exposure of any specialty, and panels are assessing candour and documentation discipline as much as clinical judgement.

Show respect for the other clinician's assessment, that you went to the bedside, how you reached a shared plan, and how you handled it afterwards. Labour and delivery units run on this relationship, and a physician who overrides without listening produces both safety events and turnover.

Cover the model you have worked in — laborist, call pool, night float — how clinic is protected after a night, and what you need to keep doing this. Groups would rather hear a realistic answer than a claim that you never get tired.

Describe giving complete information without pressure, documenting the discussion, arranging appropriate support and follow-up, and continuing to care for the patient. Say how you handle a request outside your practice — a respectful referral rather than abandonment.

Anchor on the specialty series: obstetricians and gynecologists have a BLS OEWS May 2025 median of $292,910 a year with the top 10% above $437,300. Then say the figure depends on obstetric volume, the call model and whether the role is employed or partnership, and ask what the group's physicians produce and how many deliveries the practice does annually.

Ask the call frequency, whether the hospital uses laborists overnight, whether call is compensated separately, and whether the clinic schedule is protected post-call. Deliveries are unpredictable, so a practice that schedules a full clinic after a night on labour and delivery is quietly extracting unpaid time. Ask for the actual number of nights per month.

Malpractice cover with tail — critically important given the long statute of limitations for obstetric claims — the restrictive covenant, partnership track, maternity and parental leave terms, the deliveries expectation, and whether gynaecologic surgical block time is guaranteed. Tail coverage is the single most valuable non-cash term in an obstetric contract.