Thursday, April 2, 2015

Basic Information On Doctors In The US

By Iva Cannon


A doctor refers to a medical professional who specializes in the promotion, maintenance, and restoration of human health through diagnosis, study, and treatment of injuries, diseases, and other mental or physical impairments. Doctors are also sometimes referred to as physicians and they may specialize in various fields of practice. Other areas of specialization include types of patients, methods of treatment, and categories of diseases. In that sense of specialization, they are referred to as specialist medical practitioners.

In addition to the specialties above, medicine practitioners can also specialize in providing communities, families, or individuals with continuous comprehensive medical services over a long time. General practitioner is the name for such practitioners. The word doctor and physicians varies from one country to another, but common elements are retained worldwide. There are different degree certificates for graduates of medical school.

There are several sub-specialties for physicians to specialize in. Some of them include obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, geriatrics, pediatrics, psychiatry, endocrinology, emergency medicine, internal medicine, neurology, and anesthesiology. Physicians accept patients, give advice, investigate medical problems, and treat conditions they are able ton. Treatment is done through administering injections, drugs and performing surgical procedures.

There are several places where physicians can work. Some work in clinics and small offices whereas others settle for big hospitals and group practices. Statistics indicate 700, 000 physicians got employed in 2012 in the United States including Mt. Sterling alone. It has been projected that employment will continue to rise until the year 2022. The meaning here is that employment opportunities will continue being available in excess over of physicians looking for work.

Normally, a doctor puts several hours in their work in a day. They work for over forty hours per week on average. Emergency calls at night are included in the forty hours per week. Overtime hours are also a common occurrence. Some practitioners get holidays once or twice in a year although being recalled from holidays to attend to emergencies happen a lot.

To become a doctor, one needs to be a graduate of a tertiary-level academic institution, normally a medical school. In most developed states, it takes five to six years to graduate and be ready to enter into the medicine career. Once one has graduated from the medical school, they must practice under supervision for a given period of time. After that, they may be granted full registration. In the US, residencies are mandatory before one can practice.

After achieving the required academic qualification and earning the degree, one proceeds into registration and licensing process. Sometimes, one may need a license from a single country while in some cases, licenses from multiple countries may be needed. A license gives the practitioner the power to practice freely and apply their knowledge on patients.

To conclude, one of the most well-paying professions is medicine. The profession is respected in the American society and salaries are good too. Several credits have gone to medical practitioners for inventing some of the high technologies and medical procedures in use today.




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