Medicine / Doctor

Description

Interested in becoming a doctor?  This is the post for you.  

Something Cool

You can make a difference in the lives of patients.  Many people find it an honor to take care of others and improve the quality of their lives.

Types of Companies

After training there are many different job options, but a lot depends on what specialty you choose.   

• Public vs. Private, Hospitals: The U.S. doesn’t really have “public” hospitals, but you can choose the patient population that you would like to take care of.  Different hospitals, clinics or practices accept different types of insurance from government issued to private insurance.  You can choose to be employed by a practice that pays a fixed salary or one that is based more on production and what the insurance companies pay.  It is a complicated system and can vary greatly.

• Research / Training Hospitals: Working at a research or university based teaching hospital allows you to teach medical students, residents, fellows and to do research as well as clinical work.  These types of practices usually accept any type of insurance.  Private practice usually doesn’t involve teaching or research and may or may not restrict what insurance they accept. 

• Cosmetic vs. Healing: Cosmetic based practices don’t accept insurance at all and are fee for service only.  However, this is mostly restricted to plastic surgeons and dermatologists.

Further Education & Credentials Required (United States)

It is a long process to become a doctor.  This requires dedication and commitment.  

• Undergraduate Degree (4 Years): Undergraduate degree can be in anything, but you must complete certain prerequisite courses to apply to medical school.  This includes a year each of biology, chemistry, physics, and organic chemistry.  There are some post baccalaureate programs aimed at students who later decide that they want to go to medical school and haven’t taken these classes in college. 

• Entrance Exam: Passing the MCAT is a requirement for entrance into medical school.  The Medical College Admission Test is "a standardized, multiple-choice examination designed to assess your problem-solving, critical thinking, and knowledge of natural, behavioral, and social science concepts and principles prerequisite to the study of medicine."  It also helps to have some research experience in college to get into medical school, but this is not required.

• Medical School (4 Years): There are two types of medical school degrees: Allopathic (MD) and osteopathic (DO).  Allopathic medicine is a science-based practice focused on diagnosing and treating medical conditions.  Osteopathic medicine is a more holistic approach and focuses heavily on prevention.

  • Classroom Learning (first 2 Years): lectures, labs and problem-based learning.

  • Clinical Learning (second 2 Years): working in clinics and hospitals learning from attending physicians and residents.  Students rotate through required general specialties including internal medicine, surgery, OB/GYN, pediatrics, family medicine, psychiatry, etc.  Around the end of your 3rd year, you choose a specialty and can do more electives.

  • National Exams: there are three required national exams that every medical student has to pass and are given at different stages of training.  More about the United State Medical Licensing Examination can be found here: USMLE.

  • "The Match": In the 4th year of medical school there is a matching process into residency.  Students apply to different programs and interview.  Then the medical students submit a rank list of the programs where they would like to train, and the residency programs submit a rank list of students they would like to have at their program.  On the same day in March every year “Match Day” occurs and every medical student around the country finds out where they will be doing their residency training. 

• Residency (3-7 Years Depending on Specialty): Residents have graduated medical school and are considered doctors at this point but are training under attendings and cannot practice independently until they complete their residency.  They also still have some lectures and take exams every year to assess learning.  Examples of number of years of training are: Internal Medicine - 3 years, Surgery - 5-7 years, OB/GYN - 4 years, Anesthesiology - 4 years.  Sometimes residents also do 1-2 research years. 

• Fellowship (1-3 Years): Not required, but after residency, some people subspecialize and do a fellowship. 

• Board Certification: Usually within a year after residency is finished.  Every specialty has a written exam and many also have oral and practical exams. 

• Maintenance of Certification: Each specialty has certain requirements that have to be done each year like continuing medical education, tests, and quality improvement. 

Yes, this is a long process.  But we should be grateful that doctors have such extensive training to be able to help all of us.

Entry Level Roles

This is already covered in the residency section above.  One thing that everyone has to consider when choosing a specialty in medical school is whether they want to do inpatient (hospital based) or outpatient (office based) medicine.  Some specialties do both.  For example, an orthopedic surgeon will see patients in the office and also do surgeries in the hospital.  Some internists decide to only see patients in the office and some, called hospitalists, only take care of patients who are admitted to the hospital.  Outpatient medicine is very different than inpatient and lifestyles can be very different as well. Some doctors when they are “on call” only take phone calls from patients.  Others, like anesthesiologists and obstetricians have to stay in the hospital overnight when they are “on call,” so the times and hours worked differ greatly between specialties. 

How To Learn More

• Talk to someone doing the role you want.  This is so important for being a doctor as you are embarking on a long and costly journey of training.  Check out my writings on The Gift of Asking for Help, Mentors and Networking 101 on The Search page to learn how to do this.

  • Better understand your own skills and where you will be successful at Roles.

  • Check out my writings on various industries and departments at the Industries page.

  • Already know what you want to do but are looking for guidance on how to find a job within that industry?  Check out The Search for advice.