Obstetrics and Gynecology / Women's Health
What candidates must know
Family-practice women's health spans antenatal care, common gynaecological complaints, contraception and screening. Understand the antenatal schedule and what each visit screens for (booking bloods, anomaly scan, gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia surveillance), the danger signs of pregnancy (bleeding, severe headache, reduced fetal movements, epigastric pain), and the primary-care management of abnormal uterine bleeding, pelvic pain, vaginal discharge and menopause. Know contraceptive methods by efficacy, contraindications (WHO MEC categories) and non-contraceptive benefits. Understand cervical screening intervals and HPV-based pathways, and the approach to a breast lump (triple assessment).
Traps in questions
- Pregnancy changes everything: any abdominal pain or bleeding in a woman of reproductive age - exclude ectopic pregnancy first.
- Contraindications, not just indications: combined hormonal contraception is contraindicated with migraine with aura, uncontrolled hypertension, and smoking over 35.
- Postmenopausal bleeding is a red flag requiring urgent referral for endometrial assessment.
- Pre-eclampsia can present without proteinuria; hypertension plus symptoms (headache, visual disturbance, epigastric pain) is enough to escalate.
- Screening intervals are frequently tested; know the local programme.
Rule of thumb
"Could she be pregnant?" - ask it before interpreting any abdominal, bleeding or nausea symptom in a reproductive-age woman. A negative history is not a negative test.
Worked example
A 28-year-old with 7 weeks' amenorrhoea, lower abdominal pain and light spotting, haemodynamically stable. The priority is urgent referral for ectopic pregnancy assessment (transvaginal ultrasound and hCG), not symptomatic treatment for a urinary infection.