Why You Need Both a Gynecologist and a General Practitioner

Regular or decaf. White wine or red. Chocolate or vanilla.

Choices abound. Some are inconsequential—the whim of the moment. Others matter, like your choice of health care provider. I’d like to make the case that, although you may be well past childbearing years, you haven’t outgrown being a woman. Ergo, you still have very unique and specific needs that are best served by a specialist with training and experience in all things feminine.

Most gynecologists see an abrupt migration of their older patients to internal medicine or family practice providers. “…between ages 45 and 55, you start to see a very sharp decline in the number of encounters between women and their ob/gyn--and a mirror-image rise in visits to internal medicine,” says Dr. Michael Zinaman, director of reproductive endocrinology at Loyola University Medical Center.

Not for one moment am I suggesting that this is a bad thing. General practitioners take a broad and thorough approach to patient care. In a typical exam on an older woman, an internist would screen for diabetes, colon and other common cancers, osteoporosis, high blood pressure and cholesterol, anemia and other blood disorders—basically, the whole enchilada. Since heart disease is the #1 killer for women, it’s a good idea to have this type of broad screening every year.

Internists also counsel with patients about lifestyle issues, such as smoking or weight control, diet or exercise (which I also do regularly). And they might refer and coordinate a patient’s care with various specialists.

So, why might a woman who no longer needs reproductive care and who may or may not even have her reproductive organs continue to see a gynecologist? Well, for all the stuff we talk about on this website, for starters.

Older women have specific needs and vulnerabilities for which gynecologists have deep and specific training and experience. The incidence of breast and ovarian cancers increase with age, for example. And although internists may do pelvic exams (and note that “may”; even when, after age 65, we no longer need a pap smear, we still need regular pelvic exams) and order mammograms, gynecologist have years of practice in detection and treatment.

Then, there are all those everyday annoyances of menopause and an aging reproductive system—pelvic organ prolapse, incontinence, hormonal disruption, and all those vexing sexual changes we address here on MiddlesexMD. When it comes to treating these quotidian challenges to health and well-being, gynecologists are simply the specialist. We’re more likely to know about new treatments and medications; we’re more likely to catch anomalies; we’re very attuned to kinds of changes that can signal something serious.

But the bottom line? This isn’t one of those either/or decisions. You can choose between a chocolate sundae and a frozen yogurt, but the choice isn’t between a gynecologist and a general practitioner.

You need both. And both healthcare providers need to be working together for you. “A collaborative approach would be very good,” said Dr. C. Anderson Hedberg, head of general internal medicine at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center.

In one study comparing the type of screenings women tended to receive from primary care doctors as opposed to gynecologists, researchers found that gynecologists were more likely to screen for cervical and breast cancers, and osteoporosis, while primary care doctors were more likely to test for colon cancer, high cholesterol, and diabetes.

I’m thinking you wouldn’t want to miss out on any of this fun stuff, and you sure want to know early on about issues or warning signs. But in the end, you make the judgment calls about your health. You decide what doctor to see and how often and whether or not to follow medical advice. That’s as it should be.

Having the right medical team on your side simply gives you the ability to make the best, most informed choices.