Doctor of Medicine
A Doctor of Medicine is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the MD denotes a professional degree of physician. This generally arose because many in 18th-century medical professions trained in Scotland, which used the MD degree nomenclature. In England, however, Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery was used: in the 19th century, it became the standard in Scotland too. Thus, in the United Kingdom, Ireland and other countries, the MD is a research doctorate, honorary doctorate or applied clinical degree restricted to those who already hold a professional degree in medicine. In those countries, the equivalent professional degree to the North American, and some others' usage of MD is still typically titled Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery.
History
The first medical degrees were awarded by the Schola Medica Salernitana around the year 1000, including to women such as Trota of Salerno. The degrees received legal sanction in 1137 by Roger II of Sicily and in 1231 by Emperor Federico II, in the Constitution of Melfi. In the titles XLIV-LXXXIX of the third book of the Constitutions of 1231, it was established that the activity of a physician could only be carried out by physicians holding a medical degree, the Licentia Medendi, by the Schola Medica Salernitana. This degree was awarded after a curriculum composed of three years of study of logic, five years of medical studies, an examination of a commission composed of the professors of the university, a one-year apprenticeship with an expert doctor, and a final examination before the commissioners of the Royal Curia and the Provincial Curias.In 1703, the University of Glasgow's first medical graduate, Samuel Benion, was issued with the academic degree of Doctor of Medicine.
University medical education in England culminated with the MB qualification, and in Scotland the MD, until in the mid-19th century the public bodies who regulated medical practice at the time required practitioners in Scotland as well as England to hold the dual Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees. North American medical schools switched to the tradition of the ancient universities of Scotland and began granting the MD title rather than the MB beginning in the late 18th century. The Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York was the first American university to grant the MD degree instead of the MB.
Early medical schools in North America that granted the Doctor of Medicine degrees were Columbia, Penn, Harvard, Maryland, and McGill. These first few North American medical schools that were established were founded by physicians and surgeons who had been trained in England and Scotland.
In most countries having a Doctor of Medicine degree does not mean that the individual will be allowed to practice medicine. Typically a physician must go through a year of general medical education in a hospital as an intern and then a residency for at least three years in a specific field of medicine and then take some form of licensing examination in their jurisdiction. Medical occupational licensing was found to increase the time required to allow practicing medicine and increase medical education costs.
A feminine form, "Doctress of Medicine" or Medicinae Doctrix, was also used by the New England Female Medical College in Boston in the 1860s.
By country
First professional degrees
Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, medical education begins after high school. No pre-medicine courses or bachelor's degree are required. Eligibility is determined through the rank applicants obtain in the public university entrance exam held every year throughout the country. Entry to medical school is competitive, and only students with the highest ranks are accepted into medical programs. The primary medical degree is completed in 7 years. According to the new medical curriculum, during the 12th semester, medical students must complete research on a medical topic and provide a thesis as part of their training. Students also undergo a one-year compulsory internship, to be completed in a teaching hospital. Medical graduates are awarded a certificate in general medicine, regarded as "MD" and validated by the "Ministry of Higher Education of Afghanistan". All physicians are to obtain licensing and a medical council registration number from the "Ministry of Public Health" before they officially begin to practice. They may subsequently specialize in a specific medical field at medical schools offering the necessary qualifications. After graduation, students may complete residency.Before the civil wars in Afghanistan, medical education used to be taught by foreign professors or Afghan professors who studied medical education abroad. The Kabul medical institute certified the students as "Master of Medicine". After the civil wars, medical education changed extensively, and the MD certification has been reduced to "Medicine Bachelor".
Argentina
In Argentina, the First Degree of Physician or Physician Diplomate is equivalent to the North American MD Degree with six years of intensive studies followed by usually three or four years of residency as a major specialty in a particular empiric field, consisting of internships, social services and sporadic research. Only by holding a Medical Title can the postgraduate student apply for the Doctor degree through a doctorate in medicine program approved by the.Armenia
In Armenia, medical studies take six years. After completing high school, students can apply to one of the country's medical universities. The application process includes an admission examination testing the applicant in biology, chemistry, and physics. The six-year medical education course is a combined bachelor's and master's degree program. The first three years consist of lecture courses while the final three years consist of education in clinical settings alongside attending physicians. Medical students may also simultaneously study for a Master of Public Health if they wish, which takes one and a half years of study. After the six-year period of study, students must pass the state medical examination to graduate. They must then undergo a period of residency training in their chosen field of practice, the duration of which lasts from one to four years.Australia
Historically, Australian medical schools have followed the British tradition by conferring the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery to its graduates whilst reserving the title of Doctor of Medicine for their research training degree, analogous to the PhD, or for their higher or honorary doctorates. Although the majority of Australian MBBS degrees have been graduate programs since the 1990s, under the previous Australian Qualifications Framework they remained categorized as Level 7 Bachelor's degrees together with other undergraduate programs.The latest version of the AQF includes the new category of Level 9 Master's degrees which permits the use of the term 'Doctor' in the styling of the degree title of relevant professional programs. As a result, various Australian medical schools have replaced their MBBS degrees with the MD to resolve the previous anomalous nomenclature. With the introduction of the Master's level MD, universities have also renamed their previous medical research doctorates. The University of Melbourne was the first to introduce the MD in 2011 as a basic medical degree, and has renamed its research degree to Doctor of Medical Science.
Australian National University offers a Doctor of Medicine and Surgery which is also a 4-year extended master's degree that qualifies graduates to be medical practitioners or work as surgeons.
Austria
In Austria, medical studies take six years full-time. In medicine, the first two years comprise basic fields of medicine such as anatomy, biology, chemistry, physics, physiology, etc., the next three years consist of all medical fields in the narrower sense with frequent bedside training and medical traineeships while the sixth and last year is dedicated solely to working in a clinic. After this, a specific six-year training or four year can be started; without this training, working with patients is forbidden. There is no central placement test for said specialist training, only a board-registered spot as a resident/registrar is needed. As with all other studies in Austria, there is no tuition but compulsory students' union fee. A specific entrance exam has to be taken but is open only once a year in summer; a fee of €110 has to be paid. In 2019, 16443 persons registered for the MedAT and 12960 took the test. 1.680 university places for both medicine and dentistry are offered each year with 95% of all places for EU citizens and 75% for applicants with an Austrian higher education entrance qualification/GCE A-levels. Many Germans who are denied studying in their home country try to study medicine in Austria; hence this quota was introduced and approved by the EU as most of them leave upon graduation.The title of "Doktor" is granted to physicians and dentists, who do not possess doctorate degrees, but Master's level 6 year-training, similar to the American MD or DDS. although they have to write a diploma thesis of approx. 50–100 pages. In former days the same title was connected to an official doctorate degree in connection with an older study regulation. The law has been changed in 2002. Some of which are published in peer-reviewed journals while others are not. A post-graduate research doctorate can be obtained after a three years post-graduate study at a medical university.
All doctors may be addressed as "Doktor ______", and the title is usually contracted to "Dr. ______". In many everyday-day settings in Austria, also outside the clinic, it is common to address medical doctors solely as "Herr/Frau Doktor" without any specific family name, and they are often viewed as the "real doctors". Among themselves, MDs do not use "doctor" as an appellation but just "Herr Kollege/Frau Kollegin". Consistent use of "Doktor" when addressing another medical doctor is seen as confrontative and mockery.