While students are in the last year of medical school they begin to apply to residency programs. A resident is an individual who has in some way finished their medical training and may therefore be called a doctor by others. This person is then still working in a hospital but under the supervision of an attending physician who may be more senior than them.
The resident’s job is to work on patients, sometimes with the attending physician right beside them in case they get stuck. Four-year medical students usually know which areas they wish to explore while they’re there and they will apply to several residency programs that feature those specialties.
Medical students achieve their medical degrees at the end of the fourth year, but the road to becoming a doctor is long and arduous. In order to work in medicine, new physicians must first complete a residency program lasting three to 10 years – depending on the type of specialty training chosen (for example internal medicine or surgery).
Aspiring physicians may also prescribe medications and provide advice/therapy/diagnosis under a supervising physician’s direct supervision after completing medical school but before starting their residency. Once through medical school and into the residency program though, physicians may independently diagnose patients and prescribe treatments for ailments and health conditions.
Goal
Medical school graduates enter into a residency program that also happens to be in a hospital, clinic, or doctor’s office. The goal of this residency is to finish your specialized training. This residency can last anywhere from two to three years for clinic doctors to seven or more years for surgeons.
First-year residents are referred to as interns. After that, they are known as resident doctors, resident physicians, or simply “residents”. When they start the second year of their progress through the program they are able to handle more responsibility under the supervision of an attending physician. This is a doctor who has been there longer and is further along in their own residency journey.
Duration
Many students who are studying to become doctors wonder – how long is residency? The answer is anywhere between three and five years. It also depends on the specialty that one wants to take on as their final practice. During this time period, one has gone through a number of different and complex situations while they work toward passing multiple procedures and tests. This will help in order to ultimately graduate from their program.
During these three or four years, medical residents get an immense amount of hands-on training. They do this not only in the labs but also by interacting with patients each day along with managing all of the tasks which come with running a business. They are taught about what makes a good doctor and also how to develop some moral boundaries. This will also allow them to define their own physical limits when it comes down to self-care throughout their time here.
Workload
Residency is difficult and long hours are the norm. Doctors-in-training works long hours as they put their classroom and clinical experience into practice. To ensure safety and quality of care, some limit residents, fellow, and interns to working no more than 80 hours per week—exactly twice that of a 40-hour traditional full-time job.
That 80 hours includes in-house clinical training and educational sessions as well as any additional or home-based clinical or educational training one may be required to do in addition to the actual time one spends on actual patient contact related to their residency or fellowship.
Path and Programs
Some medical students eventually decide to specialize in internal medicine. If you choose to become an Internist, you will be able to treat and diagnose patients of all ages with a range of acute and chronic illnesses.
While some physicians choose to work full-time on their own, many choose to work for groups or hospitals in the role of “hospitalists” who spend most of their time with hospitalized patients. Working in the field of Internal Medicine either as a hospitalist or clinic accordingly offers personal satisfaction and job flexibility as well as great opportunities for professional growth.
Difference Between Residency and Fellowship
For most physicians, the typical career path involves med school, residency, and then a fellowship. Each medical specialty has various specialties within it, and the extra education and training required to practice a specialty is called a fellowship.
For example, a pediatrician may choose to subspecialize in adolescent or neonatal-perinatal medicine — each requires three years of fellowship training. After completing a four-year residency, a neurologist must add a year-long fellowship to specialize in clinical neurophysiology.
Key Takeaway
There are a number of different titles one can hold during training to become a medical doctor. They begin with being called a medical student. Then they progress to becoming interns and residents, after which they will achieve fellowship status in order to become board-certified attending physicians.
It takes anywhere between seven and 14 years (or more) to become an attending physician, depending on the choice made for specialization and the length of residency training programs if required.
