Can you practice without residency?

Hello, I am a 28 year old premed student. I was just wandering, can a doctor practice medicine with going to a residency?

Not really. Even for an old-style GP had at least the first year of residency (internship). All states require at least that, I think and many more require two or three years for licensing (depending on where your med school was).
Most (if not all) hospitals will require you to complete a residency and possibly be board certified or eligible in order to have priviliges at that hospital. Also, you won’t be able to get malpractice insurance.
So, you need to complete a residency. There are many three year residencies available, if timing is an issue. However, if you don’t mind my asking, what is your concern with a residency? Could it possibly be an issue that is more global, like your committment to medicine itself?

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So, you need to complete a residency. There are many three year residencies available, if timing is an issue. However, if you don’t mind my asking, what is your concern with a residency? Could it possibly be an issue that is more global, like your committment to medicine itself?


Whoa. Maybe, like a lot of us, the original poster is just feeling a little old. I do, sometimes. I just try to think of the whole thing as a journey I plan to enjoy as much as I can. I can’t hold my breath until the very end. I’ll pop.

I just sent in my application for a provisional license as an MD - all I can get prior to starting residency. It will empower me to practice medicine during the next year in ONE clinical setting (my residency program) under supervision.
After I take Step 3 of the US Medical Licensing Exam next year, I’ll be able to apply for a “real” license, and technically, I would be able to hang out my shingle and practice. But I wouldn’t do it! First of all, and by far the most important, I haven’t learned nearly enough - medical school doesn’t even begin to teach you what you need to know to practice medicine; you learn it in residency. It would be neither safe nor ethical to attempt to practice medicine without completing a residency.
Secondly, from the very practical standpoint, you won’t be able to participate as a provider with any insurance program if you have not completed a residency. While some doctors fantasize about not participating with managed care, very few of them go through with it (at least when they’re starting out in practice) because insurance companies are how you get patients. Given that I have a six-figure loan burden, it would not be wise of me to go into practice without ensuring a reasonable income stream.
There are people who earn degrees in medicine who do not go into practice and don’t do a residency. Michael Crichton is the best-known example; his first book was turned into a movie while he was in medical school, I think, and made evident to him a career path he hadn’t considered previously. Less spectacular examples would be people who use the degree for work in pharmaceuticals, law or business. Usually a person looks for a non-practice job because med school wasn’t what s/he expected, and practicing medicine is no longer what s/he wants to do.
Having gone on at considerable length, the short answer to the OP’s question is “No.” The answer to the nuanced question, could you practice after just doing an intern year? is “for all practical purposes, No.”

Hey Mary,
In Virginia, you apply for your permanent license and Step III at the same time with the same application. It saves a step or two. Apply early and get Step III out of the way. It is more of an irritant rather than a test.
Natalie

Natalie, well dang that is nice to know! I do intend to simply get that Step III out of the way at some point… since in my intern year I’ll rotate through medicine, ICU/CCU, Peds, OB/gyn, surgery and ER, I figure the whole year is my review for Step III and I certainly am not going to set aside dedicated time to study. Like you say, I just want to get it over with. Ah, two more days in that stuffy little underground Prometric place in Merrifield. Bleah.
Mary

I can certainly relate (I’m 48 now, hope to enter school next year, with a 3 year residency I’ll be 56 when I’m done with it) but, as I said, you pretty much HAVE to do a residency.

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Natalie, well dang that is nice to know! I do intend to simply get that Step III out of the way at some point… since in my intern year I’ll rotate through medicine, ICU/CCU, Peds, OB/gyn, surgery and ER, I figure the whole year is my review for Step III and I certainly am not going to set aside dedicated time to study. Like you say, I just want to get it over with. Ah, two more days in that stuffy little underground Prometric place in Merrifield. Bleah.
Mary


Hey Mary,
You know, fourth year is the best prep for USMLE Step III. I really didn’t add much during my PGY-1 year. Almost everything on this test is a step up from what you did for USMLE Step II. If you can figure out what is going on, you can figure out how to treat it. The book for Step III is Crush USMLE Step III. It is a green book. It contains everything you need and nothing you don’t. Most of the guys who took it this year used this book and did fine.
The only thing worst than that little dark Prometrics place in Merrifield is the one that I used in Richmond. I kept feeling like I would come out and find my car gone.
Natalie