Provider Feature: Jeffrey C. Broberg, M.D.
Provider Feature
Dr. Broberg is with our Provo OB/GYN group and has been a practicing physician for 17 years! During rotations in medical school, he enjoyed many specialties, but loved multiple aspects of his OB rotation which led to a career as an Obstetrician and Gynecologist. He attending medical school in North Carolina and completed his residency and 4-year Air Force commitment in California, where he is from. When he’s not working, you’ll find him exercising with his wife, spending time with his family, listening to music from Vocal Point or seeking out great Japanese food.
Why did you choose to become an OB/GYN?
My dad was an Obstetrician and as I went to medical school it was a specialty I had to decide if I enjoyed. I was interested in it, but as I started working in other specialties there were many I was interested in. As I did my rotation in OB/GYN, I loved multiple parts of it—I loved the babies, the well visits with moms who were healthy, happy and trying to have a successful pregnancy, the happy interaction with patients, labor and delivery and the deliveries of the babies. It’s just such a neat time for a doctor to be involved in this important time in a patient’s life. I also enjoy the surgical aspects, taking care of all aspects of women’s health care and being in the clinic. It’s the variety that I really like.
Do you have a delivery that was memorable for you?
Sometimes the memorable ones are the hardest or the times that are the most difficult for patient’s. Watching a patient go through a loss, where they are heartbroken, are the ones that are the most memorable for me. Many pregnancies and deliveries are not that way, but there are times when you have to help a patient go through something that’s really, really hard. For example, when someone who has tried to get pregnant for years, finally gets pregnant with IVF and then has a complication—those are the deliveries where you feel for your patient and want so much to try to help.
What do you love about Valley Women’s Health?
I’ve been a practicing physicians for almost 16 years and with Valley Women’s Health for 13 years. The way it works in a group practice is that you have partners you trust, that you get along with and that you would want your family to see. This allows you to hand off patients to be managed by your partners and feel completely confident. As a patient, you now have, instead of just me thinking any problems or complications, multiple other smart people talking, interacting and thinking together about how to solve those problems that come up. We have that strength in numbers. I have people to talk to and run things by who are also helping me be better and learn from them.
What is your favorite thing about being an OB/GYN?
It’s the deliveries, being in the delivery room and just being able to be part of deliveries. I love that!
What is one thing that you wish all women could know?
Many women worry that they are not doing something they should be doing or they’re not good enough at whatever they are doing. I see them stress about that. If they could look back from an outsider’s perspective and see what they are doing for their kids, in their pregnancy and see how many sacrifices they give, they should feel so good about themselves! Women really are doing an amazing thing through pregnancy and after and at home. I wish they could somehow feel a pat on their back of just how awesome they are because I see it. When they feel like they aren’t doing enough, I want to tell them to be proud of themselves because they really are doing an amazing thing.
What do you think is important when it comes to loss?
The first thing is to listen to what the patient is feeling because everybody has a different reaction to loss. The most important is to allow them to express the feelings of what they are going through. The second thing, from the medical side, is to do everything I can to get them through the physical part without problems so it can be a non-issue and the emotional part can be the focus. It really comes down to listening and empathizing so you understand what your patient is feeling.
Tell me about your family.
I grew up in Southern California (Los Angeles county) and came to Brigham Young University. My wife is from Provo and I met her in college at BYU. We dated during my third year, were married during my last year and then we went to medical school in North Carolina. We loved it there, it’s a cool place. I was in the Air Force, they have a scholarship, and had 4 years commitment to them after residency. We were in California for both my residency and my 4 year Air Force commitment at the Travis Air Force base. After I finished that, we came here and have been here ever since. We have 6 kids. Our oldest is 22 and our youngest is 8 – four boys and two girls.
What is your favorite treat?
I have too many favorite treats! Cookies. Cinnamon rolls. All the baked goods. My wife bakes pound cake squares that are probably my favorite. I also love homemade chocolate chip cookies. I don’t like coconut or chocolate cake, unless it’s Magelby’s chocolate cake.
What are your hobbies or favorite things to do?
We love to do things as a family! My wife and I like to exercise together and go to the gym 3 times a week and run or walk the other days. We also go snow skiing in the winter and boating in the summer.
We’ve done Lake Powell, but usually go boating here locally. We go pretty frequently during the summer. We borrow grandpa’s boat and go out together as a family. It’s something where you can just have your family isolated and we have a great time!
What is something that always puts puts you in a good mood?
Music wise, I like Vocal Point from BYU. It’s always happy, cheerful and makes me feel good.
Exercising also always puts me in a good mood.
What is your favorite restaurant?
I like Japanese food. I went to Japan on my mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. There’s a lot of good Japanese restaurants around here. There’s a new one on Center Street in Provo called K’s Kitchen. We’ve been there a couple times and it’s very authentic. It’s very simple, they don’t have a big menu. We like making Japanese food at home. My son served his mission in Japan too.