What to do after graduating?

[phamdmd]

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Hey guys. I'm new to this sdn thread and I wanted to know more about residency and fellowship after graduating. I really have no idea what this means, can someone fill me in? After I graduate from a medical school, how long will it take until I can open up my own practice as a physician? Right now, I am a second year at UCI, and I want to go to UCI medical school. I'm just maintaining my GPA and plan on taking the MCATS this summer. I was wondering if anyone can just fill me in on what goes on after the 4 years of medical school. Thank you all!

 

[Crixivan]

The lengths of the various medical specialties are discussed here:

http://www.studentsofmedicine.com/specialties.htm

It takes at least 3 years of training after medical school to get board certified in internal medicine, pediatrics, or family medicine. After that, you can do a fellowship in a subspecialty.

 

[kdburton]

Hey guys. I'm new to this sdn thread and I wanted to know more about residency and fellowship after graduating. I really have no idea what this means, can someone fill me in? After I graduate from a medical school, how long will it take until I can open up my own practice as a physician? Right now, I am a second year at UCI, and I want to go to UCI medical school. I'm just maintaining my GPA and plan on taking the MCATS this summer. I was wondering if anyone can just fill me in on what goes on after the 4 years of medical school. Thank you all!

Well once you figure out what medical specialty you want to go into (which can happen as early as birth or all the way up until the beginning of 4th year), you apply for a residency program in your field of choice during your 4th year of med school. Residencies generally range anywhere from 3-6 years depending on the nature of the specialty. If you decide to subspecialize then you add a couple more years on to your training. So once you graduate from med school you have your M.D., but you are not yet board certified in any specialty. Lets say I want to become certified in Infectious diseases like Dr House... I would need to do an Internal Medicine residency followed by an Infectious Diseases fellowship. Once I complete each those post-grad training programs I am eligible to sit for the board cert exam in that specialty/subspecialty. You get paid during residency and felloowship although its a relatively small amount (it starts somewhere between $40-50k and goes up with each year of experience). After your residency/fellowship training you can start your medical practice. So with all that said keep the GPA up and rock the MCAT and hopefully you'll be set 🙂

 

[Winged Scapula]

A clarification:

Board Certification is not tied to your license to practice medicine.

As a graduate of a US medical school, you need only 1 year of post-graduate training (and passing USMLEs) to obtain an unrestricted medical license. That is, you can "hang your shingle" with only an internship year of training.

Effectively, however, this is increasingly becoming a path to nowhere.

Without completing a full residency program, you are not Board Eligible. You cannot be Board Certified without being Board Eligible.

Many hospitals, insurance companies and employers require at least Board Eligibility and it would not be alarmist to state that Board Certification will become required as well at some time in the future.

Therefore, you should consider it routine that you must finish a residency (from 3-7 years) and perhaps an additional fellowship (1-3 years) to be Board Certified to practice your chosen field. BUT Board Certification is not tied to licensure nor technically the ability to practice.