Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Paediatrician
A neonatologist is a doctor who has trained as a
paediatrician but has specialised in caring for and treating 'neonates', or very newborn babies. Neonatologists usually work in the
intensive care nurseries of large public maternity hospitals or children's hospitals caring for very sick and premature newborns.
Neonatologists care for babies in the public Medicare system in Australia and often work in partnership with private paediatricians if you have your own doctor. If a baby is very ill and/or premature the neonatologist will usually manage the care of the baby. Once your baby(s) is on the road to recovery (or discharged from the intensive care unit), the neonatologist will usually hand their care over to your private paediatrician.
Obstetrician and gynaecologist
An obstetrician and gynaecologist, also known as an 'O&G' (or 'OB/GYN' in the USA) is a doctor who has obtained further qualifications to provide care and treatments for the reproductive health of women. Essentially, an obstetrician cares for pregnant woman and a gynaecologist deals with non-pregnancy reproductive health. However, many O&G's work in both areas, but some will specialise in either obstetrics or gynaecology. An obstetrician and gynaecologist may also choose to work in other related fields such as fertility, menopause, contraceptive technology, pregnancy ultrasound or oncology (cancer of the reproductive organs).
Obstetricians are known as 'obstetric registrars' in their senior years of training when they work in large public maternity hospitals, providing care for women choosing Medicare funded services in Australia. They are usually rostered on at the hospital and provide any pregnancy, labour or birth services that are required during their shift. Public hospitals also have nominated obstetric consultants available to assist the obstetric registrar if required. You can read more in
Doctors working in the public health system