Running Head: Medical Education

Medical Education In America

Enola Quijas
University of Texas at El Paso

Running Head: Medical Education

When thinking about medical school like any freshman in college would
believe it would

be easy , but as freshmen we believe everything is easy

until we really have to face it. Medical school is known as a stressful ,life
changing ,hard experience that not a lot of students can fulfill , because
medical school is expensive it has really high expectations on the students
and its time consuming. In the U.S. medical schools have decreased in the
number of rate of graduate students with a doctorates. Due to these four
common questions we will figure out why this issue has continuously happen
and what is the purpose of making medical school so complicated.
Is the medical schools cost affecting the graduating students rate ?

Are the amount of years needed to graduate medical too much ?

Are the expectations for medical school to high ?

Is the education of medicine in other countries equivalent?

Are the amount of years needed to graduate medial school too much ?
Medical school is known to be intensive classwork, long hours of study,and
the pressure of making life-or death decision ( Shapiro), and all the time

Running Head: Medical Education

students need to study it takes up mostly all of the time students have . The
question here is the amount of years needed to graduate medical school too
much , and the answer is the time that is required is necessary .According to
researchers of education it take about 11-16 years to become a doctor ,
because of medical school requirements admission , medical school,
residency , and just alone the residency is 4-7 years of practice plus an
addition research years with the specialty one chooses (Peterson).This issues
particularly affects the decrease of doctors in the United States , because the
students must dedicate their whole time on school and not all students
make it . Just in general any medical program or school is competitive and
more than 50 percent of students just trying to get in to any medical school
dont make it. Which with this issue it makes sense to have so many years of
experience in just medicine , because there isn't a lot of doctors and with all
that hard work and dedication it show who really wants to become a doctor
and who just believed in the general idea of becoming one .
Are the expectation too high in medical school?
As a medical student one should already know, that the pressure of
attending medical school is a different experience one will ever face. The
expectation are consider to be challenging and high , because the students
must be committed to the whole 11 years of there career in medicine. Just
the requirements to be accepted into medical school are high students must
take about 4 years of basics and then test their way into medical and have
an outstanding GPA. Considering all this medical school isnt easy at all

Running Head: Medical Education

students must truly want to become a doctor , students must have goals,

excellent clinical skills , both moral and ethical decision skills. ( Church, Berg,
and Robison ) with all this in mind the issue here is that having a high
expectation in schools makes it competitive and finically expensive. With
these two comments together the majority of the population of wanting to
become a doctor is decreased considering peoples situations and by the year
2025 the U.S. will face a decease of 90,000 doctors.(Bernstein).
Is the cost of medical school affecting the student graduate rate ?
Being in debt is considered to be normal as fulfilling the dream to become
a doctor in

fact over 80 percent of students graduate

in debt and the
only thing that
changes
through those
years in
becoming a
doctor is the

amount.
This chart represents the amount of money just medical student have to face
and in total of 11 years the student owes about $820,800 and these students
are in debt about twenty to thirty years (Best Medical Degree). The problem
with the financing is that not a lot of students have the opportunity to afford
or take the risk to be debt the some much money . Most students decide to

Running Head: Medical Education

drop or change their minds and do something less expensive . While the pay
is good to be a doctor , but it is not enough at times especially dealing with
loans , and daily expenses its not enough.
Is the education of medicine in other countries equivalent?
New programs are always introduced to help medical student to succeed
for example Study aboard is a program where a student is able to go out of
america to study pre- med. Its beneficial to a point where the student gains a
lot of different knowledge and different cultural diversity , social skills etc.,
but unfortunately if the student isnt part of any kind of those programs or
studies away from the united states its very difficult to begin a career. The
issue with having an education outside of the united states is that since the
competition just inside the U.S is so intense one must really know what they
are doing to start their career here.
Abstract:
Becoming a doctor has a lot of building blocks starting all the way to the
bottom form starting in the requirement of just applying to medical school to
actually becoming a specialist in the medical field. The four questions are
involved with one major issue which is ; Is the education of medication
affecting the rate of graduating doctors? This issue doesn't have a defined
answer , but according to many researchers the answer can be consider as
yes , but to the government and some medical graduate debate and say no ,
because all theses issues builds the doctors . So its a debatable question ,

Running Head: Medical Education

but the medical filed should change in some matter to make that rate of
decrease to change.

References

Running Head: Medical Education

Bernstein, L. (2015, March 3). U.S. faces 90,000 doctor shortage by 2025, medical
school association warns. Retrieved from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/03/03/u-s-faces90000-doctor-shortage-by-2025-medical-school-association-warns/
B. (2016). BestMedicalDegrees.com. Retrieved from
http://www.bestmedicaldegrees.com/is-medical-school-worth-it-financially/
Chen, P. W. (2011, July 28). The Hidden Costs of Medical Student Debt. Retrieved from
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/the-hidden-costs-of-medical-studentdebt/?_r=0
Church, M., Berg, K., & Robinson, A. (2006, September 20). Advising Students
Interested in Medical School: What is the Best Approach? Retrieved from
https://dus.psu.edu/mentor/old/articles/060920mc.htm
Shapiro, C. (2015, April 30). What to Expect Your First Year of Medical School | UVM
CDE. Retrieved from https://learn.uvm.edu/blog-health/first-year-of-medicalschool
Smith-Barrow, D. (2014, September 4). Avoid Common Mistakes as a First - Year
Medical Students. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/education/bestgraduate-schools/top-medical-schools/articles/2014/09/04/avoid-commonmistakes-as-a-first-year-medical-student
P. (2013, January 30). Time for Medical School Requirements and to Go to Medical
School. Retrieved from https://www.petersons.com/graduate-schools/timemedical-school-requirements.aspx