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A career as a medical doctor, often also referred to as a career in medicine, involves a training period that culminates in a professional qualification, and designation, and subsequent practice as a medical doctor. Even though a person becomes a medical doctor, it might end up that he or she actually has nothing to do with medicine.

The length of time and type of training can be dependent on the background of the individual, the institution, and the geographic location. It also depends on whether you factor in the education undertaken in order to get to the point of starting medical school, and all the training that occurs after the medical degree is completed.

The term “physician” does not always mean the same thing as “medical doctor.” In some countries, particularly the United Kingdom (UK), a physician is a medical doctor who has done further training to become a specialist in general conditions relating to the adult (very similar to a pediatrician who is a specialist for children). The North American equivalent of the UK physician would be an internist, or a specialist in internal medicine. For the purpose of this book, I will be using the terms “medical doctor,” “doctor,” and “physician” interchangeably; all these terms referring to the same person.

One really confusing term also common in the UK, Ireland, and that region of the world is the designation “Mr.,” which is used for doctors who have completed their surgical training and are now a consultant surgeon. They revert back to the “Mr.” from “Dr.” The equivalent would obviously apply for females as well.

The term physician is not only limited to a medical doctor. Certainly in North America, other health-care providers who utilize the nomenclature “physician” include podiatrists (i.e., foot specialist who has not gone through traditional medical school), osteopaths (i.e., a different training route to conventional medical school) and naturopathic physicians.