Doctors & Medicine

Doctor of Medicine (M.D. or MD, from the Latin Medicinæ Doctor) is an academic degree for medical doctors. more...

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It varies between countries, from being an entry-level professional degree that many doctors hold, to being a relatively rare higher doctoral research degree that very few doctors hold.

Degree variations

Canada and United States

In the United States, the M.D. is one of two basic medical degrees, one of which is required to practise medicine, the other being the D.O. degree (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine). In Canada, the M.D. is the basic medical degree required to practice medicine; as well, in most provinces, the provincial college of physicians and surgeons grants practice rights to American-trained osteopathic physicians. There are no institutions in Canada that offer D.O. or comparable degrees; however, there are schools that train health practitioners in classical osteopathy.

Medical degrees are professional degrees and are distinct from research doctorates (Doctor of Philosophy, or Ph.D.), which require a graduate thesis (doctoral dissertation). In other words, an M.D. is not equivalent to a Ph.D. in medicine.

Accredited medical schools almost always require a previous bachelor's degree. The M.D. is typically earned in four years. At most medical schools, the first two years primarily involve classroom instruction in both lecture and laboratory formats while the final two years are comprised of a series of clerkships in clinical departments such as family practice, surgery, internal medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, and obstetrics/gynecology. Following the awarding of the M.D., physicians who wish to practice in the United States are required to undergo additional training in the form of a residency. Depending upon the physician's chosen field, residencies involve an additional two to seven years of training after obtaining the M.D.

The title is the entry-level medical degree equivalent in most professional respects to the Bachelors of Medicine and Surgery awarded in Commonwealth countries excluding Canada.

The abbreviation \"M.D.\" is frequently used post-nominally in the US, being put after the name as a title; however, it is also used on its own in informal writing, as an abbreviation for \" doctor.\"

Commonwealth Countries Excluding Canada

In the United Kingdom and many other Commonwealth countries, the M.D. is a higher doctoral degree reserved for those who have contributed significantly to the academic study of medicine and surgery, respectively. An M.D. typically involves either a number of publications or a thesis, and is examined in a similar fashion to a Ph.D degree.

The entry-level professional degrees in these countries are the Bachelors of Medicine and Surgery, earned with typically five to six years of studies and training at University. A 4-year couse has recently been implemented by currently 14 universities which can only be entered with a previously completed degree.

Read more at Wikipedia.org