The Medical Hierarchy

Role of Hierarchy

In every system there is a proper hierarchy which allows for a lot of processes to go smoothly without any problem or chaos. This allows dividing the responsibilities to be shared and also allows the less experienced to learn from the ones that are more experienced and be able to learn from their mistakes. There are different titles used to differentiate between level of students and physicians which can be found in a hospital environment:

The hierarchy

• Attending Physician- Attending physicians are an expert in their particular fields. They have the proper training and experience and are practicing their speciality. They usually work in institutions where education is provided to medical students while they may be practicing on their own. They can have different titles like professor, associate professor or even dean depending on the institute and are able to oversee the education and medical practice of the students as well.
• Fellow- Fellows are also physicians who have successfully completed their residency and are interested in completing their training and increasing their experience in a particular speciality. The fellow is allowed to practice but it is entirely their choice to continue with additional training as the fellowship is entirely optional. To be able to become a specialist, the individual chooses fellowship.
• Resident- After the intern year is the residency. At this stage, they are allowed to practice medicine as general practitioner. There is a large majority of physicians who choose residency for training further. The residency can be from two years and can be off up to seven years of training. It all depends on the type of speciality.
• Intern- After a medical student has completed his medical school they are supposed to complete their post medical training which is of one year. This is known as the intern year. They are not allowed to practice independently without supervision and if allowed they are only supposed to do within the limits of the training program in which they are enrolled.
• Medical Student- Students or individuals that are enrolled in the medical school and have not passed out are called medical students. They are not called as doctor or even a physician until they have passed all the exams and have successfully graduated the medical school. After their graduation, they officially become physicians and can even be called so even when the training is still incomplete. They cannot practice independently but to be able to do so they are always advised to work with physicians with many years of experience and learn from them. Afterwards when they have learned almost everything they are allowed to start their practice independently.