The History of Physicians goes as far back to Before Common Era where archaeologists found paintings in France which depicted people using plants for medical purposes. This was one of the first discoveries that started the history behind physicians and doctors. One ancient practice that dates back 1000’s of years is called “ Trepanation”. This was where a person would drill or scrape a hole into someone’s head believing it would relieve the trauma or pain in the person’s head. To many people’s surprises, this operation was successful most of the time.
There have been reports about having more consciousness, improved hearing, and increased learning after trepanation. This was one of many surgeries which sparked the idea of performing operations to help sick or infected people. As years progressed Egyptians and possibly Indians were performing root canal surgeries. Some evidence shows that this surgery goes as far back to the second or third century B. C.
when archaeologists found a bronze wire in a tooth in Israel. They believe this was done by the Romans because of the fact that they invented dentures and crowns. Looking at this way of treatment the bronze wire relieved the pain by draining the infected pulp from the root canal. Just about 3, 000 years ago is when many believe the practice of medicine started.
Before the 1800s many people had to go through trial and error to decide whether or not if the plant has any medicinal value to them. But with this way of doing things many died or got sick before actually finding something that benefited them in any way. When it came to sickness many didn’t think of it as anything, they merely thought of it as some folklore. For example, they would believe the person was being possessed or they had a curse on them etc. Then to solve this so-called “ sickness” they would mix up potions, other spells and such to try to get the bad spirit out of them. The first doctors that existed were called “ medicine men” or the Witch doctors because of the religion or magic that came with the practice of medicine. This is where the Placebo effect first started because of the doctors supposedly healing their patients.
Little did they know nothing was happening, it was just the patients believing in the doctor and the doctor believing in himself. Around this time studies show that this is when the first medical tools were starting to be developed. A tribe in North America started using human nails to make knives, saws, scalpels and other tools to cut umbilical cords or to circumcise newborns. This tribe soon found out that the fingernails would not cut the bone so they then started to invest sharper tools that would cut.
This then led to a different tribe using plants( bamboo and thorns mostly) as surgical tools. They then started using rock especially flint which proved to be a better scalpel. As time progressed they found better ways to perform surgery with wooden handles which made the incisions a lot more accurate. We later found records from a king in Babylon that wrote several codes for the practice of medicine.
Such as the doctor’s ligaments getting cut off if he were to fail an operation on a person. If he succeeded then he would be granted another person to try and save. It wasn’t until we took a look at the Egyptians. This gave us a clearer picture of what diseases were common back then such as tuberculosis or bone eating diseases. The Egyptians used different techniques to try there best to cure the sickness or the diseases someone would have.
These ideas and practices were the starting point of what soon became one of the most important practices in the world. It wasn’t until the early 1900s when we began seeing doctors using more developed medical tools such as the scalpel, needles, saws, forceps etc. This point in time I feel was a major breaking point and why I say that is because the development of different types of knives made surgeries and helping people easier. There were different types of knives which served different purposes. Such as the fixed blade, fold up knives, the double-edged blade also known as the double-sided knife, and the different saws etc. These all made a surgeon’s life easier because of the fact that they could cut more precise or have a steadier hand. As time progressed people invented better more compact tools that later on proved to be very useful. Along with medical tools, there also was technology that was made to help patients.
The first piece to do that was an Electrocardiograph machine which could measure a heart’s pulse. This machine helped doctors find out what problems were wrong with the person if it was related to the heart. In the same year, the first respirator was built which issued vacuums to push and pull on a person’s chest through a big iron chest plate. Another major piece of technology was the CAT Scan machine in the 1970s this allowed doctors to see 3-d images of any body part on the human body to find the problem that a normal x-ray could not see.
All these machines made helping people a lot easier than the previous years. Now we have far more advanced CAT scan that is 100 times better with being able to control the radiation doses for the size of the patient. Meaning the doctor could adjust the radiation to see the different parts of the human body.
For example, if they wanted to see if the patient had any lung issues they could use a lower dose which was also a lot healthier. Now although machines help there not as important as the person behind them. The Doctors! As the previous paragraphs have said physicians have come a long way from practicing medicine as a hobby to having modern day professions.
Recorded data shows that back then the study of medicine was a trial and error process now it’s a process of educated guesses that are backed up by facts. Doctors nowadays have to take about 8 years of college just to become a physician. The first four years you need to complete an undergraduate program then complete a 3-7 years residency training before one can get there license. The mandatory classes so one would need to take are Chemistry, Physics, Human Genetics, and Biological studies. One of the biggest tests would be the MCAT which stands for Medical College Admission Test. This test is combined with Physical science, biology, critical thinking and verbal skills. After taking this test the person will then go on and go to medical school.
The first two years will consist of reading and laboratory work to prepare the future doctors for learning how to diagnose and treat illnesses. On the second year of students will take a test that is a part of the United States Medical Licensing Examination. If they pass this first part they will then continue to begin their first clinical experience and help physicians to learn the practice of medicine. The final year is one of the most important times in whether you make or break it. The fourth year is when the student takes the second half of the test. If they pass they continue on to the residency part of schooling. This is where many decide what type of doctor they want to be for example if they wanted to be a surgeon, physician, neurologist etc. This is where the final part of the medical licensing exam is taken and depending on the results is where the student will go.
With different options come different paths that need to be taken after they have passed the final test. Some medical professions take longer than others but this is also why most people say it’s about 3-7 years to get where you’d like to. Licensing is one of the biggest if not one of the most important steps into becoming a doctor.
There are three steps that the USMLE uses to decide whether the Physician’s knowledge and skills are ready for the field. The first step is to take an assessment test on the person’s basic knowledge towards the science concepts for basic patients. The second step is a multiple choice exam that is designed to see if the possible future physician possesses the medical knowledge as well as the comprehension of clinical science. Along with answering these questions, the board can tell whether the examinee could work with a patient and make the proper calls under supervision. The second part is a hands-on exam that tests the student’s clinical and communication skills.
The exam does this by seeing if the examinee is capable of gathering information on the patient’s health issues, look at a patient and perform a physical examination, talk to the client about what they found that was wrong, and to write a patient note. After that process, the examinee moves onto step three which is the last part of the licensing exams. This exam evaluates the examinee skills to use their medical knowledge, understanding of biomedical and clinical science which is highly important for the unsupervised practice of medicine.
These would be the basic steps to acquire a license but requirements vary throughout states. For example in California, the state requires you to pass all three parts of the USMLE( the United States Medical Licensing Examination) within ten years or they will have to pass the SPEX (Special Purpose Examination) or clinical competency wrote exam. Other states may require the student to stay in school longer or require you to take more tests. An example of this would be the state of Florida where students would be required to take the USMLE, FLEX, LMCC or SPEX exam. However other students that come from other countries are required to have a certificate from the ECFMG( Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates) and be able to pass the third part of USMLE. Along with a certificate and the passing of the exam, they need to have two years of residency supervised by the ACGME( Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education). Although the person completes all the requirements necessary the state may take up to months to process your application. Another major step that you have to take in order to become a physician is residency.
In the last year of medical school students start their matching process. This process is where the student looks into the field they would like to go into and applies for that position. Often times the residency programs look at the applications and decide who they want to invite to an interview. The interviewee will get interviewed by senior residents and possible attending physicians. This interview benefits you as well because it gives you a feel of the work area and the environment. From there you can decide if it would be a good fit for you. After your interviews with different programs, the student will send in a list in order of which residency programs they would like to join and then send it to the National Residency Matching Program. They then will use this list and the list that the residency programs sent in as well to decide which program best fits your liking.
Every year very few students fail to get into the residency programs they wish to be in. One cause of this is because the students only apply to a few programs as well as some residency wanting more qualified students to be in a there program. These people might have a second opportunity from the Dean at the school. If asked he can give a list of other possible residencies that have open positions. The length of a residency depends on what you’re going into but most are about three to seven years.
Three-year residencies usually for family practice or internal medicine. Other times practicing and studying for becoming a Urologist or Cardiologist may take more than three years to complete. Another factor for that might add to how many years someone would need is the specialty. If you are going into a certain specialty some programs may require you to take additional training. Salaries for being a resident may very as well. Some factors that determine what you will be making would be where you live and what kind of career you’re pursuing. A poll from the American Medical Association said in 2012 first-year residents earned around forty to fifty thousand a year. This number increases from each year of residency taken so the person would likely to be earning more in the future years of their career.
The number of hours worked during residency work varies. The hours vary on what specialty the person is trying to get into. Some of the basic residents work about 45 hours a week while others may work much more because of the specialty. The hours range from 40 being the minimum and 80 being the maximum due to the law that was passed in 2003.
An example would be like dermatology which doesn’t require you to be on call whereas surgeons are on call and are more complicated which requires more time. During this time there is a high chance you will be attending conferences or meetings pertaining to your job and work area. The responsibilities one has to uphold during residency are important.
Each career has a different amount focus because of the job you are trying to acquire. Each specialty requires you to acquire different skills and procedures. Most of the time the examinee will be responsible for looking at a patient’s physical health and finding the issue at hand if there is any. If they cannot find the issue they can talk to other specialties and ask for their professional opinion.
Other responsibilities would be to take care of your patients and check on them, performing treatments and operations, and diagnosing the patients that are in your field. Residents provide their patients with education on what they came in for as well as prescribing them the medication needed. If your field is in the same as a surgeon then you might help in certain surgical operations or respond to emergencies like trauma. Most of the time first-year residents will be supervised by senior residents or physicians.
Then on the second year, you might be supervising medical students. This will then lead to supervising first-year residents in your third year of residency and most of the responsibilities you will have are the same as an attending physician. One of the biggest controversies that occur when going into the medical field would be malpractice.
Medical malpractice is an issue for many people because of the lawsuits involved. Many students get sued for making a mistake or diagnosing the patient with false information or doing something that causes the patient harm. Medical malpractice happens when the hospital or doctor make a mistake and cause harm to the patient. Usually, this is a result of people making mistakes in the diagnosis process, treatment, or their health management. Three claims a person must have in order to file for medical malpractice is a violation of the standard of care, an injury that was caused by negligence, or an injury that resulted in significant damages.
The first claim “ A violation of the standard of care” says that under this law there are certain medical standards that are acceptable and approved by from doctors. Patients have the right to expect that the doctors will deliver this kind of care to them in whatever they are going in for. If they believe they did not receive the proper amount of care and it is decided they did not receive this care a lawsuit is created. The second claim is that “ An injury was caused by negligence” could possibly happen when the patient feels as if the doctors violated the standard of care.
If the received an injury from this they can file a case but if they patient cannot prove that he or she was injured during his or her visit to the hospital then there will be no case. The last characteristic is ” The Injury resulted in Significant damages” which states that if the patient feels pain, has a disability because of the operation, or is suffering from it they can then sue the hospital or doctor. Other opportunities that one could achieve when becoming a physician is that you can become a cardiologist with more practice. Cardiologist treat diseases, provide health care, diagnose, and prevent possible future issues that occur with the heart and cardiovascular system. In order to do this, you have to go into an internal medicine residency program and attend fellowships to get more specialized training in the type of cardiology you want to do.
This field contains so many different diseases and how to solve them that there are now different types of cardiologists. The types are the non-invasive cardiologist, invasive and non interventional cardiologist, interventional cardiologist, electrophysiologist, and a non-invasive cardiologist The training in this field includes four years of medical school, three years of residency. After completing the internal medicine residency you have to decide which type of cardiology you want to into and take the two to three years of fellowship.