Question about Title

[AUSclepius]

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Hello,

I am new to this forum.

I have a M.B.B.S. from the Australian National University and I have completed specialist training in Emergency Medicine.

I am married to a US citizen and we are moving house from Sydney, NSW to her hometown just outside of Chicago, ILL.

It is my understanding that the first medical degree awarded in the US is the MD. However, in Australia the first medical degree awarded is an MBBS and the MD is an advanced research degree.

Are there many MBBS graduates practicing in the US? I am mostly concerned about confusing my patients who may not be familiar with the MBBS degree.

 

[Apollyon]

It may be called "false advertising" by some, but, if you were to put "MD" on your white coat or scrubs, there would be no question.

The MD in the US and the MBBS from the Commonwealth are equivalent - period. While the MD in the Commonwealth is from a thesis or further schooling, not so here.

The evolution will go like this: a patient will notice your accent, and you will, uniformly, get more credit for being a doc than you should (I kid, I kid), no matter how average a doc you might be. You are a competent EM (A&E) doc, which is #1, #2, and #3. That's what the patients see. A rare patient (because we don't see normal people in the ED - at least here) will look at the "MD", and ask if you have an "MBBS" (or an "MBBCh", or an "MBBChBAO"), and then you would tell them you have an MBBS.

Alternately, you put MBBS on your scrubs and white coat, and everyone will ask about it - so frequently that you will have a set, pat answer - and you will say "I'm from Australia, and that's the degree they give, while here in the States it's an MD. They're equal."

And many MBBS docs in the US? Everyone from India that went to school there is.

 

[chartero]

It may be called "false advertising" by some, but, if you were to put "MD" on your white coat or scrubs, there would be no question.

Unless your state, residency, employer, staff association, etc. had an issue with it. Check all requirements specific to you. I would avoid in any way misrepresenting a degree. Especially with a legitimate avenue to an M.D.: If you're licensed in New York and your foreign medical school didn't award an M.D., the New York State Education Department can confer an M.D. for an additional fee of $300. Other states may, or may not, make similar provisions.

 

[Flopotomist]

I am a medical student, wear a short coat, introduce myself as "first name, the medical student on the team..." and STILL am addressed by pts in the ED as "doctor."

My point to the OP is that many pts don't seem to care what your academic credentials are as long as you are the person that is caring for them.