3.
Year one of medical school consists of mostly basic sciences courses.
Medical school also consists of medical ethics courses, also known as
OSCEs, in which you learn about patient examinations and more. OSCEs
refer to Objective Structured Clinical Exams in which you are presented
with various patient scenarios. In these scenarios, an actor portrays a
patient with a certain clinical disease and you are expected to obtain a
thorough medical history and physical examination in the allotted time
period.
In year one, you will attend lectures and labs about Gross Anatomy (the
study of structure of organs and tissues), Histology (the study of
cells), Pathology (the study of diseases and their effect on the body) and
Biochemistry (the branch of science concerned with the chemical and
physicochemical processes that occur within living organisms).
4.
Year two of medical school is typically clinical-based. Here you will learn a
handful of the diseases you will encounter in the hospital, such as:
Myocardial infarction (heart attack)
Pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs)
Deep Vein Thrombosis (blood clot in the leg)
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Congestive heart failure
At the end of your second year in medical school, you will have to take
Part 1 of the USMLE (United States Medical License Exam). The USMLE
assesses a physician's ability to apply knowledge, concepts, and principles
to ensure a basis of safe and effective patient care. This test is needed to
move on into the third and fourth year of medical school.
5. Years One
and Two
•Consists of mostly basic science
and clinical based courses with
the addition of medical ethics
courses.
•You’ll attend lectures/labs
about Gross Anatomy, Histology,
Pathology, and Biochemistry.
•At the end of your second year,
you shall take the first part of
the USMLE.
Years Three
and Four
6.
Year three consists of clinical rotations. Here you will become part of the
medical team. A medical team typically consists of an attending (senior
doctor), residents (doctors-in-training) and interns (first year residents).
You will rotate through the many clinical specialties of medicine, such as
Internal Medicine (adult medicine), pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology,
psychiatry, surgery, etc. Here, you will get a taste of what kind of doctor
you will become.
Your team will grade you on your performance during your rotation. As
with any work environment, this can be a bit biased. However, national
tests are administered at the end of your rotations. Some medical schools
require you to pass this exam to receive a grade at the end of your clinical
rotations.
7.
Year four of medical school is much like year three but a bit more
specialized. You can delve into the specialties of medicine even more. For
example, if you liked internal medicine, you can elect to do a
gastroenterology, cardiology or rheumatology rotation.
Elective rotations in subspecialties like Oncology, orthopedics,
dermatology, neurosurgery, etc. Elective time for research, public health
project, experience abroad, study at other med schools.
At the end of your fourth year in medical school, you will take the second
part of the USMLE. The second part of this exam is centered around
clinical skills.
8. Years One
and Two
•Consists of mostly basic science
and clinical based courses with
the addition of medical ethics
courses.
•You’ll attend lectures/labs
about Gross Anatomy, Histology,
Pathology, and Biochemistry.
•At the end of your second year,
you shall take the first part of
the USMLE.
Years Three
and Four
•Consists of clinical rotations
with medical teams, includes
rotations in Internal Medicine,
Surgery,
Obstetrics/Gynecology,
Psychiatry, etc.
•Elective rotations in
subspecialties.
•Elective time for research,
public health projects, etc.
•Take part two of the USMLE.
9.
After you have finished your four years of medical school, you are now a
doctor, but now you will undergo training to work as a specialist. Surgery,
Pediatrics, Radiology, Oncology, and Ophthalmology are all examples of
specialties.
Following completion of medical school, you must first complete a one
year long internship in general medicine. After one year, you will take the
third part of the USMLE for an official medical license.
Now, we can begin our training to become a specialist! Depending on
which specialty you would like to pursue, it will take on average 2-5+ years
to complete your residency (a period of time where you work in a
hospital alongside a doctor to learn more hands on skills about your
specialty; at this stage, you are a “Doctor-in-training”) in the specialty
area.
10.
After you finish your residency, you can finally begin to work as a specialist
(Radiologist, Surgeon, Oncologist, etc.)!
Yet, many doctors want to not only pursue a specific specialty, but they
want to pursue a specialty within their specialty, which is known as a subspecialty. For example, we know that Surgery (a Surgeon) is a type of
specialty that you can pursue. Now, Plastic Surgery (a Plastic Surgeon) is a
specific topic within the general specialty of Surgery. Doctors who pursue
a sub-specialty first must complete a residency in the general topic (in this
case, Surgery), and then they will complete a fellowship in their desired
sub-specialty. To train to pursue a sub-specialty, you must complete a
fellowship. Depending on your desired sub-specialty, it will usually take
around 2-4 years to complete the fellowship.
11.
Length of Specialty training:
• 3+ years = Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Emergency
Medicine, General Practice Medicine.
• 4-5+ years = Psychiatry, General Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery,
Dermatology, Radiology.
• 6-7+ yrs.= Neurosurgery, Cardiac Surgery
