DOCTORS MUST BE LIFELONG LEARNERS

Do you know how many years it takes to become a good physician? An entire lifetime.

Good physicians must allocate some of their time, all their life, toward maintaining their medical education. With the rapid advances occurring in medicine, science and technology, the half-life (the time it takes for 50 percent of your knowledge to deteriorate) of a medical education is less than five years without a dedicated continuing effort to remain educated about these changes.

All physicians in the United States including medical doctors (M.D.'s), doctors of osteopathy (D.O.'s) and doctors of chiropractic (D.C.'s) must achieve a certain number of credits of continuing medical education to insure that their knowledge and skills remain current. In Missouri this is a requirement for maintaining a license to practice medicine. These requirements may vary considerably by state, by professional organizations and by hospital medical staff organizations.

More than 20,000 medical students receive medical degrees from accredited schools each year. But, in order to get a medical education students must complete high school and in most cases a four-year college or university education.

Students who maintained the highest grades apply for acceptance to a medical school and in some cases there are more than 100 applicants for each student that is selected. After completing four years of formal medical education, students receive their degree and are considered doctors, however, they generally do not practice on their own until they have completed additional training.

Most doctors apply to residency programs where they complete anywhere from three to nine additional years of professional training in an accredited program and under the supervision of certified senior physicians. The length of the residency program depends upon the specialty chosen. It may be as few as three years in family medicine to as many as six to nine years in neurosurgery and cardiothoracic surgery.

Believe it or not, some physicians go on to take yet additional training of one or two years in a fellowship which provides even further highly specialized training in their particular field. Once all formal training has been completed, physicians must apply for a permanent license in the state or states where they intend to practice and they must pass certain proficiency examinations before they can qualify for licensure.

After physicians have practiced for a while they may apply for board certification. This is a certification system that insures that a doctor has been tested by his peers in his specialty and that his experience in his specialty has been deemed qualified to provide quality care in that specialty. This certification process usually involves successfully passing a written proficiency examination and oral examination by specialists in the same field. Most certifications need to be renewed after seven to ten years by again going through the same process. However, after completion of all of this the educational process does not end for physicians, as they must maintain their knowledge and skill base each year through continuing medical education. In short, good physicians are lifelong learners.

Web Resources

American Medical Association

www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/1843.html

This Web address will take you directly to the AMA Section on Medical Schools.

American Osteopathic Association

www.am-osteo-assn.org

You can access this Web site for information on medical education for osteopathic physicians.

American Chiropractic Association

www.amerchiro.org/

This Web site has information for consumers and professionals about chiropractic treatment and education.