Doctor of medicine profession (MD)

• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• R
• S
• T
• U
• V
• W
• X
• Y
• Z

Types of health care providers

M.D. profession

The practice of medicine in the United States dates back to colonial times (early 1600s). At the beginning of the 17th century, medical practice in England was divided into 3 distinct groups: the physicians, the surgeons, and the apothecaries.

Physicians were viewed as elite and usually held a university degree. Surgeons, in contrast, were typically apprenticed and hospital-trained, and often served the dual role of barber-surgeon. Apothecaries also learned their roles (prescribing, making, and selling medicines) through apprenticeships, sometimes within hospitals.

This distinction between medicine, surgery, and pharmacy did not survive in colonial America. University-prepared MDs from England, upon their arrival in America, were expected to also perform surgery and prepare medicines. The class distinctions and snobbishness associated with physicians over surgeons quickly became diluted.

The New Jersey Medical Society, chartered July 23, 1766, was the first organization of medical professionals in the colonies. It was developed to "form a program embracing all the matters of highest concern to the profession: regulation of practice; educational standards for apprentices; fee schedules; and a code of ethics." Later this organization became the Medical Society of New Jersey and, having survived numerous obstacles, remains the oldest medical society in the United States.

The regulation of medical practice, by examining and licensing practitioners, was initiated by professional societies through provincial legislatures as early as 1760. By the early 1800s, the establishment of regulations, standards of practice, and certification of doctors was firmly in the hands of the medical societies.

A natural next step was for such societies to develop their own training programs for doctors. These society-affiliated programs were called "proprietary" medical colleges.

The first of these proprietary programs was the medical school of the Medical Society of the County of New York, founded March 12, 1807. Proprietary programs began to spring up everywhere and attracted a large number of students because they eliminated 2 features of university-affiliated medical schools: a long general education and a long lecture term.