How is it that you go from knowing hardly anything about medicine to being able to operate and administer medication in a mere three years?
How is it that you go from knowing hardly anything about medicine to being able to operate and administer medication in a mere three years?
First, medical school in the United States is 4 years.
Second, you can't operate by yourself after 4 years, heck it's only after (5 years for general surgery/ortho, more for specialties like plastics) residency and nearly 1000 operations logged can you operate by yourself.
Third, you can write prescriptions without a co-signature once you have become an M.D., but only in the presence of, and in consultation with, a board-certified physician.
The minimum amount of time before you can practice general medicine on your own is 5 years in the U.S. - 4 years of medical school, one year of residency - provided you have passed all 3 parts of the US medical licensing exam. Even then, no insurance will pay you because you are not board certified.
After nearly 6 years of undergrad, and 3 degrees, mind you I was a straight A student, my first med school class got a 68. Imagine that, difficult as hell!
Who is Murphy? wrote:
First, medical school in the United States is 4 years.
Second, you can't operate by yourself after 4 years, heck it's only after (5 years for general surgery/ortho, more for specialties like plastics) residency and nearly 1000 operations logged can you operate by yourself.
Third, you can write prescriptions without a co-signature once you have become an M.D., but only in the presence of, and in consultation with, a board-certified physician.
The minimum amount of time before you can practice general medicine on your own is 5 years in the U.S. - 4 years of medical school, one year of residency - provided you have passed all 3 parts of the US medical licensing exam. Even then, no insurance will pay you because you are not board certified.
Good post, residency for a GP is actually 2 years. To the OP, anyone who plans on doing any surgeries will have residency which far surpasses the length of the 4 year MD program...
Very close... wrote:
Good post, residency for a GP is actually 2 years. To the OP, anyone who plans on doing any surgeries will have residency which far surpasses the length of the 4 year MD program...
For someone to go out on their own, the minumim requirements are 4 years of medical school, passed all 3 steps of the USMLE, and complete an intern year, a total of 5 years.
Like I said, this rarely, if ever happens, as you'd be hard pressed to find anyone to actually pay you. But theoretically it is possible.
In the first TWO years of medical school... you read 1000s of pages of medical information. You read just about every known pathology known to man including the stuff you will probably NEVER see as a physician in the United States. Then the next two years are an intensive application of the information you will actually use in a clincial setting. You're working with medical information every day for at least 8 hours a day. THEN you have to complete a residency like the above posters mentioned where you're working for anywhere from 60-100 hours a week depending on your field. And don't forget about the licensing exams you have to pass along the way. After spending that much time at YOUR job... how much do you think you would know and how well would you be able to perform?
Troll. The bigger question is why do so many people on this website think that they are experts in medicine w/o ever having set foot inside of a medical school.
Most residencies are 3-5 years with some being longer. On top of that many specialties require a fellowship of 1-3 years or so. Remember that all postgraduate work is in your specialty. So it is true: after 4 years of med school you will not be so qualified. And after another 3-8 years of post graduate work, you will not be so qualified in most fields, but you should be in your specialty. Remember: med education is 11 to 15 years or so of post high school training. What other fields have so much??
Good information guys. I guess with all 4 years of medical plus residency it seems possible to become fairly well acquainted with the stuff you need to know. I guess, unlike other times in your education, all your time is spent on medicine instead of a vast array of areas of study. Another question, how much do you get paid during residency? I know it probably varies by field, and I imagine it is quite a bit less than after residency, but you do get paid some don't you?
here this might help: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/
I think wrote:
Another question, how much do you get paid during residency? I know it probably varies by field, and I imagine it is quite a bit less than after residency, but you do get paid some don't you?
It actually doesn't vary by field at all - it varies by the number of years out from Med school you are. And it varies by the city you live in.
Most PGY-1 (first year out) make somewhere between $35,000 and $52,000 a year. The low number is if you're working in a rural area, or smaller city. To make $52k, you've got to be in NYC or San Fran.
Each year it goes up, usually in both cost of living, and in seniority.
for instance, in Baltimore the pay scale is:
PGY1: 44k
PGY2: 46.5k
PGY3: 49k
etc.
I just want to add that in case you didn't know, med school is not like college. In college there is about 16 hrs of class a week and lets be honest, you don't have to work so much out of class. In med school there is 40 hours of class a week and you have to work much, much more out of class.
What do you call the guy who graduates last in his medical school?
Doctor.
Very close... wrote:
Good post, residency for a GP is actually 2 years.
No, it's 3, and they don't call them GPs anymore. You "specialize" in FP/IM/Peds.
Not close . . . wrote:
Very close... wrote:Good post, residency for a GP is actually 2 years.
No, it's 3, and they don't call them GPs anymore. You "specialize" in FP/IM/Peds.
you're right that the 3 years is the minimum amount if you complete the whole residency and become board certified.
however, any doctor who completes ONE year of residency as passes the 3 steps of the USMLE is able to set up shop and diagnose and prescribe meds without a person looking over their shoulder. They can advertise themsevles as a "GP" if they want.
Like I said above, no insurance will pay a doc who is not board certified, but other than that, there are no legal restrictions for someone who has done only one year of residency - regardless of the field.
Good and correct info here. After all that time of literally eating, breathing, and sleeping (rarely) medicine, one day it all just finally makes sense. It's like a switch is turned or something. You could probably pull off the intern thing and practice by being a VA ER doc or something of the sort. Best to do the residency and get board certified though. Unless you do Cosmetic Surgery, optho, or derm, don't do it for the money. Do it because you love it. Being a med student is pretty close in attitude to a hard core endurance athlete. You essentially live in a classroom and library for your first 2 years, the 3rd year is never leaving a hospital, and the 4th year is as glorious as could ever be- I spent 3 months in Nepal and 3 months in Africa.
Surgeon in AZ wrote:
Good and correct info here. After all that time of literally eating, breathing, and sleeping (rarely) medicine, one day it all just finally makes sense. It's like a switch is turned or something. You could probably pull off the intern thing and practice by being a VA ER doc or something of the sort. Best to do the residency and get board certified though. Unless you do Cosmetic Surgery, optho, or derm, don't do it for the money. Do it because you love it. Being a med student is pretty close in attitude to a hard core endurance athlete. You essentially live in a classroom and library for your first 2 years, the 3rd year is never leaving a hospital, and the 4th year is as glorious as could ever be- I spent 3 months in Nepal and 3 months in Africa.
Ritsema, is that you?
Who is Murphy? wrote:
Not close . . . wrote:No, it's 3, and they don't call them GPs anymore. You "specialize" in FP/IM/Peds.
you're right that the 3 years is the minimum amount if you complete the whole residency and become board certified.
however, any doctor who completes ONE year of residency as passes the 3 steps of the USMLE is able to set up shop and diagnose and prescribe meds without a person looking over their shoulder. They can advertise themsevles as a "GP" if they want.
Like I said above, no insurance will pay a doc who is not board certified, but other than that, there are no legal restrictions for someone who has done only one year of residency - regardless of the field.
Hmm, interestig stuff, didn't realize that. I'm just a soon-to-be-M1-in-August so I'm not as knowledgeable about some of those things as any residents/attendings on here. Thank you for responding in a civil manner rather than stooping to my level of becoming flippant. I've been extra irritable lately.
Ha, you think you're irritable now... just wait a few months...
Not close wrote:
Hmm, interestig stuff, didn't realize that. I'm just a soon-to-be-M1-in-August so I'm not as knowledgeable about some of those things as any residents/attendings on here. Thank you for responding in a civil manner rather than stooping to my level of becoming flippant. I've been extra irritable lately.
No problem, I'm finishing med school now - there's often a lot of confusion about the post-med school world of residency - even from residents themselves.
A word of advice before you start med school - drop the M1, M2, etc. from your vocabulary.
Medical students tend to use "first-year", "second-year", etc. Law students love the L1/L2/L3, but they're the only ones who use it regularly. The adoption of the lingo by a few medical schools is worthless. (After all, if med students wanted to be lawyers, they would be.) If you start saying "M2" to people in different parts of the country, you're going to sound like an uneducated hick.
Just a word of advice...