Jabarkan Teaching of medicine dari Tatamba dalam bahasa sunda

See also the main articles Medical doctor (BE) and Physician (AE)

Medical training is involves several yéars of university study followed by several more yéars of residential practice at a hospital.  Entry to a medical degree in some countries (such as the United States) requires the completion of another degree first, while in other countries (such as the United Kingdom) medical training can be commenced as an undergraduate degree immediately after secondary education. Once graduated from medical school most physicians begin their residency training, where skills in a speciality of medicine are léarned, supervised by more experienced doctors.  The first yéar of residency is known as the "intern" yéar.  The duration of residency training depends on the speciality.

In the USA, physician training generally follows the following timeline (with age of completion):

Finish high school at 18

College/university, 4 yéars, graduate at 22

Medical school, 4 yéars, graduate at 26 with M.D. degree

Residency (internship usually synonymous with first yéar of residency), 3 yéars, finish at 29. Physicians are generally eligible for independent licensure to practice primary care specialties at this point. Many surgical residencies are longer than 3 yéars.

Fellowship, 3 yéar, finish at 32. Fellowships are taken to become eligible for board certification in subspecialties.

The name of the medical degree gained at the end varies: some countries (e.g. the US) call it 'Doctor of Medicine' (abbreviated 'M.D.'), while others (e.g. Australia, Britain, Pakistan) call it "Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery" (French: "Chirurgie"); this is technically a double degree, frequently abbreviated 'M.B.B.S' or 'M.B.B.Ch.', dependent on the medical school. In either case graduates of a medical degree may call themselves physician. In the US and some other contries there is a parallel system of medicine called "osteopathy" which awards the degree D.O. (doctor of ostéopathy).  In many countries, a doctorate of medicine does not require original reséarch as does, in distinction, a PhD.

A medical graduate can then enter general practice and become a general practitioner (or primary care internist in the USA); training for these is generally shorter, while specialist training is typically longer.