The one-year Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospitalist Fellowship offered by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine provides fellows with the experience, knowledge, and skills they need to work independently in a hospital environment. Our graduates are well-prepared to meet routine patient care objectives as well as manage high-acuity, high-risk patients.

Program Details

The fellowship is directed by Karyn Wat, MD, director of the Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospitalists and safety officer for labor and delivery at NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island, along with four full-time obstetrics and gynecology hospitalist faculty members who are very active in teaching fellows. They and other department faculty provide training and mentoring throughout the fellowship year.

Our initial curriculum was developed by the department chair and the division director. Subsequently, the program was adopted and modified with input from the academic committee of the Society of OB/GYN Hospitalists for standardization in developing future hospitalist fellowship programs.

Fellows are given verbal feedback on a daily basis. Official evaluations are completed every three months by core faculty members in the division as well as private attending and faculty members who have the opportunity to work with fellows. We use New Innovations, an online residency management program, for evaluations.

Our evaluation committee, the Core Clinical Competence Committee, meets every three months to discuss fellow evaluations and progress. The Core Clinical Competence Committee consists of the fellowship director, the four hospitalists, and the chief of quality for obstetrics.

The following competences are evaluated:

• patient care
• clinical and surgical skills
• medical knowledge
• practice-based learning and improvement
• interpersonal and communication skills
• professionalism
• systems-based practice
• teaching skills

Fellows also evaluate the program every three months via New Innovations.

Learning Objectives

Quality improvement and patient safety are the guiding principles of the fellowship curriculum. Our goal is to ensure that fellows are competent in managing the clinical problems of hospitalized obstetrics and gynecology patients and in improving the performance of the hospital and its healthcare systems.

Our curriculum prepares fellows to achieve this goal in the following ways:

• by paying prompt and complete attention to all patient care needs including diagnosis, treatment, and performance of medical procedures under appropriate supervision
• by employing quality and process improvement techniques
• by collaborating, communicating, and coordinating with all residents, fellows, and attending physicians as well as healthcare personnel who care for hospitalized patients
• by safely transitioning patient care within the hospital, and from the hospital to the community
• by using hospital and healthcare resources efficiently
• by developing expertise in drills and simulation
• by developing expertise in conducting systems-based mortality and morbidity conferences (practice-based learning and improvement)
• by developing the key qualities of teamwork, quality improvement, and leadership
• by conducting research and developing tools to improve perinatal care, with emphasis in intrapartum care, as well as other obstetrics and gynecology patient care core measures as defined by national organizations

Learning objectives are linked to the six Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education competencies, which include medical knowledge, patient care, professionalism, interpersonal and communication skills, practiced-based learning and improvement, and systems-based practice.

Clinical Training

Our curriculum provides ample opportunities for fellows to gain wide-ranging clinical experience working with diverse patient populations at NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island. Along with hospitalist attending staff, fellows act as the safety officer for labor and delivery.

Under the supervision of the hospitalist attending physician, clinical duties include the following:

• sign out all triage patients and personally evaluate these patients as needed
• manage unexpected obstetrical emergencies such as a obstetrical hemorrhage, prolapsed cord, shoulder dystocia, cesarean hysterectomies, and operative deliveries
• be available to manage labor, not just attend deliveries
• evaluate admitted patients; write an admitting note or history and physical examination and initial orders; and order all non-routine laboratory and other tests
• monitor patients’ labor progress, complications, need for anesthesia, and need for amniotomy
• work jointly with the patients’ private physicians
• decide and implement labor interventions (for example, Pitocin or amnioinfusion), review fetal monitor strips (especially when any abnormality or concern is noted by the nurse and any time any nonsurgical intervention is required), decide on the need for internal monitoring, and be present for emergent deliveries
• assist on operative deliveries, twins, or other procedures
• assist with neonatal resuscitation in unanticipated situations
• evaluate and manage postpartum complications
• check on hospitalized antepartum patients
• be on call for the general obstetrics and gynecology emergency department
• perform emergent gynecologic surgery for cases such as ectopic pregnancies or incomplete abortion curettage
• provide emergency department consultations and emergency surgical procedures for gynecologic patients
• be responsible for unassigned inpatient gynecologic patients or referred gynecologic patients from private physicians
• perform emergent obstetric and gynecologic ultrasounds

In addition, fellows are expected to supervise and train obstetrics and gynecology residents and medical students; provide ongoing nursing and physician education; and participate in all simulations and drills. For the first six months, fellows will be taught simulations and drills; for the last six months, fellows will teach them.

Fellows must be available for in-house call four times per month.

How to Apply

Applicants must have completed an American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology–approved residency and also have a New York State medical license or permit. We accept one fellow per year with a July 1 start date.

To start an application, please email Dr. Karyn Wat, program director, at Karyn.Wat@NYULangone.org and attach a CV and a brief statement of interest.

Contact Us

For general inquiries about our program and how to apply, Ruth Ansell, program coordinator at Ruth.Ansell@NYULangone.org

Learn more about graduate medical education programs at NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine, including our commitment to diversity, and access information for house staff such as benefits, policies, and services.