<p>Hi i would like to know what the difference is in the amount of school a regular doctor has to do VS. a plastic surgeon.</p>
<p>Define regular doctor.</p>
<p>doctor = General Physician</p>
<p>Undergrad - 4 or 5 years
Medical school 4 years</p>
<p>Internal Medicine, family practice or pediatrics residency 3 years
Plastics - 2 year fellowship after successful completion of a residency in Orthopedic surgery, ENT, or Urology (all 5 years) OR completion of a 7 year Neurosurgery residency.</p>
<p>So the difference is 4-6 years (from the AAMC's Careers in Medicine page)</p>
<p>To add on to BigRed post, you can also do an integrated plastics residency (6-7yrs) but they are very competitive to get into. </p>
<p>-3 yrs of general surgery
-1 year of research (optional at some programs)
-3 years of plastics</p>
<p>To add to my previous post, even though the first three years are classified as general surgery, you still take more rotations geared towards preparing you for the all plastics parts.</p>
<p>To my point of view, the "General Practice Physician" is someone who has graduated from medical school, passed all three steps of the USMLE and is able to get licensed to practice medicine in a state. This means you have done enough post graduate training to be able to be licensed. This doesn't mean you have done any kind of residency.</p>
<p>If you are equating "general practice" with Family Practice or Internal Medicine, then either one has 3 yrs of residency.</p>
<p>Ummm...that's impossible. Post-Graduate training is REQUIRED to obtain a license.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsmb.org/usmle_eliinitial.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.fsmb.org/usmle_eliinitial.html</a></p>
<p>The link shows that every state requires at least 1 year of Post Grad training before obtaining initial licensure.</p>
<p>I should qualify that...you could do finish a transitional year program in Internal medicine, to fulfill the Post Grad training in those states which only require 1 year, but I don't see the utility in doing only that. You wouldn't be eligible for board certification without completing an ACGME approved training path, so I'm not sure it's worthwhile. Many of the listings I see in the back of JAMA for positions (granted a small snapshot of available jobs) want "board eligible" physicians.</p>