"So you want to be a doctor?"
Q: I am a third year high school student who wants to become a doctor. There is no doctor in our family so I don’t really know how many years of studying it would take to be a doctor and what sort of exams one has to take. Can you enlighten me on these matters? -- Ronald of Manila.
MANILA, Philippines — A: I’m glad you want to become a doctor and gladder still that you asked what it takes to become one. There are many high school graduates who enroll in pre-med courses without really knowing what they are getting into.
After high school, the length of formal education you need to undertake depends on what type of a doctor you want to become. It can be anywhere from eight years to more than 15 years.
You have to be a Bachelor’s degree holder to be eligible for admission into medical school. Hence, after graduating from high school, you need to enroll in a college or university to take up a baccalaureate course (e.g., B.S. Biology, A.B. Psychology, etc.). A course that will adequately prepare you for medical school should at least include 15 units of biology, 10 units of chemistry, nine units of math, and five units of physics. Usually, it takes four years to complete a bachelor’s degree, but there are schools, such as DLSU, that offer courses on a trimestral basis, which enables a student to graduate with a BS or AB degree in three years. Furthermore, there are schools, notably UP and DLSU that have “honors programs” (INTARMED in UP and BS Human Biology in DLSU) that shorten the pre-med course into two years. You can apply for admission into these special programs, but to get admitted into them your high school grades should be outstanding and you should score well in the college entrance exam of the schools.
Regardless of which baccalaureate course you enroll in, during your senior year, you need to take the NMAT (National Medical Admission Test). A good NMAT score will help you get admitted into the more prestigious among the about 30 medical schools in the country.
In medical school, you will pursue a four-year professional degree program called Doctor of Medicine (M.D.). After obtaining your MD degree, you need to undertake a one-year rotating internship program in an accredited hospital. Then, you are qualified to take the Philippine Physician’s Board examination that is administered by the Professional Regulations Commission. Passing the exam will make you a licensed physician.
As a licensed physician, you can go into private practice as a general practitioner (GP), teach in a medical school, or serve as a government physician that mans a health center. However, if you wish to practice in an urban area, you will be better off if you undertake graduate training (lasting between three to five years) called residency in an accredited tertiary hospital, which will turn you into a specialist (i.e., internist, pediatrician, surgeon, obstetrician-gynecologist, etc.). After residency, you need to take and pass a specialty board examination to be able to practice as an accredited specialist.
Finally, if you wish to practice in a modern, high-tech medical center, you will need further training (called fellowship) in a sub-specialty field (e.g., in internal medicine these sub-specialties include cardiology, pulmonology, nephrology, etc.) in an accredited hospital. Of course, if you wish to practice your sub-specialty, you will have to pass a subspecialty board exam after fellowship.
In all, you will be in you early or mid-30s by the time you are ready to start private practice as a subspecialist. Your studies will not end with your subspecialty training however, because medicine entails a lifetime of continuous learning.
By the way, the other thing you need to consider before you embark on a medical career is the financial burden becoming a doctor entails. School fees in medical schools are rather high. Internship, residency and fellowship programs offer minimal salaries and/or allowances. And, it takes years before a private practice takes off.
SOURCE:
> Manila Bulletin Online
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Teacher Mar