Doctor Career Research Paper

Doctors can pursue many career paths, including private practice, university-hospital work, or a job with a health maintenance organization. The first lets the physician be his own boss. The second offers him the opportunity to divide his work between treatment, research and instruction, in varying proportions. The third means he work for a large corporation, which provides him with patients and handles most of the administrative and business tasks that physicians in private practice have to handle on their own. Doctors can also work in inner-city clinics or in rural areas, where shortages of doctors exist. Doctors can be general practitioners or they can specialize in internal medicine, cardiology, endocrinology, neurology, oncology,

Volunteer to work at a local hospital or with the emergency medical services. During the last year of college, apply for medical school and take the MCAT. The four-year program at medical school encompasses clinical work and book learning, with two years in the classroom and two in the clinical setting. Some of the usual courses are pathology, pharmacology, neuroanatomy, biochemistry, physiology, histology (the anatomy of tissues), and gross anatomy (cadaver class). Clinical study takes place at local hospitals or medical practices. Students are expected to offer diagnoses and suggest courses of treatment in real-life situations, although an MD/instructor makes the final decisions. In standard programs, students enter clinical clerkships in their third year and, in their fourth year, they can choose among various elective subspecialties. Students also spend the fourth year applying for internships. After four years, students sit for the USMLE (the medical boards), and those who pass receive their medical degrees. A three-year internship and residency are next, although many specialties require a longer training commitment. A medical education is never truly complete. New challenges and breakthroughs change the medical landscape at an alarming clip. Nevertheless, those initial years of med school have an enormous impact. One doctor we spoke to could name instructors who still influenced his work, more than thirty years

Doctors must quickly learn the difference between books and people. Interns and residents work under the supervision of other doctors. Although resident's hours have traditionally been very long, hospitals have recently begun reducing the schedules of their young doctors. After satisfying residency requirements, a doctor can strike out on her own as a full-fledged medical practitioner. Wherever you work, you'll spend much of your salary paying off student debt, which can exceed $100,000.

Five Years Out: In private practice, a full partnership usually comes after five years. You have a vested interest in attracting and keeping patients. In addition to your clinical responsibilities, you will have the management duties that come with running any business. University-hospital based physicians may work their way up the faculty ladder, devote more time to clinical work, or spend their days in the lab conducting research. Doctors at HMOs can look forward to some vested interest in their