Do You Think That Med Schools Properly Prepare Future Doctors?

This question was originally posted on Quora.com and was answered by Amy Chai, MD, Internal Medicine, MS Epidemiology



Of course not. Medical schools are not in the business of preparing future doctors. Like any other university, they are driven by prestige and money. They want to select highly driven and intelligent people who will make them proud in the future and burnish their reputation. Universities are NOT responsible for the success of the students.

Medical schools are resources. Students pay $70,000 USD per year for the opportunity to access these resources. In return, the medical school provides access to lectures, a vast library, unlimited academic journals, and the opportunity to work in the hospital as an observer/apprentice.

The only entity responsible for your future as a doctor is YOURSELF. You had better prepare yourself by working as hard as you can with the resources you have purchased.

After medical school, there is residency. Residency is semi-autonomous, but it is heavily supervised.

Residency training programs are responsible for making sure that the residents are competent prior to allowing them to sit for their specialty boards. A group of residency faculty will sign a document stating that the residency graduate is competent to sit for the boards. If these faculty think you are not competent, they will not sign for your eligibility to take the exams.

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