http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_sc ... ted_States
United States
Main article: Medical school in the United States
The Association of American Medical Colleges and American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine list 130 accredited MD-granting and 28 accredited DO-granting medical schools the United States, respectively.
Admission to medical school in the United States is based mainly on GPA, MCAT score, admissions essay, interview, and volunteering activities, along with research and leadership roles in an applicant's history. However, race-conscious preference (affirmative action) is practiced by many American medical schools.[6] While obtaining an undergraduate degree is not an explicit requirement for a few medical schools, virtually all admitted students have earned at least a bachelor's degree. A few medical schools offer pre-admittance to students directly from high-school by linking a joint 3-year accelerated undergraduate degree and a standard 4-year medical degree with certain undergraduate universities, sometimes referred to as a "7-year program", where the student receives a bachelor's degree after their first year in medical school.
As undergraduates, students must complete a series of prerequisites, consisting of biology, physics, and chemistry (organic and inorganic). Many medical schools have additional requirements including calculus, genetics, statistics, biochemistry, English, and/or humanities classes. In addition to meeting the pre-medical requirements, medical school applicants must take and report their scores on the MCAT, a standardized test that measures a student's knowledge of the sciences and the English language. Some students apply for medical school following their third year of undergraduate education while others pursue advanced degrees or other careers prior to applying for medical school.
In the nineteenth century, there were over four hundred medical schools in the United States. By 1910, the number was reduced to one hundred and forty-eight medical schools and by 1930 the number totaled only seventy-six. Many early medical schools were criticized for being diploma mills that turned out quacks. This and other problems lead to the creation of the American Medical Association in 1847 for the purpose of self-regulation of the profession. Abraham Flexner (who in 1910 released the Flexner report with the Carnegie Foundation), the Rockefeller Foundation and the AMA are credited with laying the groundwork for what is now known as the modern medical curriculum.[7]
The standard U.S. medical school curriculum is four years long. Traditionally, the first two years are composed mainly of classroom basic sciences education, while the last two years primarily include rotations in clinical settings where students learn patient care firsthand. Today, clinical education is still spread across all four years, with the final years being more heavily weighted towards clinical rotations. Some schools such as the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Medical College of South Carolina offer an integrated radiology curriculum during their MD Programs as part of the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity study.[8] Upon successful completion of medical school, students are granted the title of Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.). Residency training, which is a supervised training period of three to seven years (usually incorporating the 1st year internship), is typically completed for specific areas of specialty. Physicians who sub-specialize or who desire more supervised experience may complete a fellowship, which is an additional one to four years of supervised training in their area of expertise.
Unlike many other countries, US medical students finance their education with personal debt. In 1992, the average debt of a medical doctor after residency was $25,000. For the class of 2009, the average debt of a medical student is $154,067 and 11% of students had debt in excess of $250,000 (prior to residency). For the past decade the cost of attendance has increased 5-6% each year (roughly 1.6 to 2.1 times inflation).[9].
Licensing of medical doctors in the United States is co-ordinated at the state level. Most states require that prospective licensees complete the following requirements:
Graduation from an accredited medical school granting the degree of DO or MD
United States and Canada schools must be accredited by the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine or the Liaison Committee on Medical Education.
Foreign medical school graduates generally must complete some training within the United States.
Satisfactory completion of at least one year of an AOA- or ACGME-approved residency.
Passage of the United States Medical Licensing Examination or the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE, COMLEX, or simply "the boards"). USMLE and COMLEX both consist of four similar parts:
Step I is taken at the end of the second year of medical school and tests students' mastery of the basic sciences as they apply to medicine.
Step II CK is taken during the fourth year of medical school and tests students' mastery of the management of ill patients.
Step II CS is taken during the fourth year of medical school and tests students' mastery of clinical skills using a series of standardized patient encounters.
Step III is taken after the first year of a residency program and tests physicians' ability to independently manage the care of patients.
