switching from engineering to medical school; practicing in the US

[venomous]

Before we get into this please bear with me for I am clueless on these topics.

 

Ok I've been looking at changing careers for the past yr or so now I am presently an electronics engineer but well engineering sucks lol, so I’m trying to find out as much about med school as I possibly can, I have no idea about anything so here goes.

 

1- How does one become a specialist /surgeon vs. a family doctor is that part of the school or residency??

2- If it is part of schooling how much longer are you looking? And if its part of residency how does that work?

3- In your residency what kind of money can you make? Just min wage?? Also what if you work in the US where I plan on working anyone know about how it works there for residency, just trying to figure out if I can pay my bills lol. Until I complete what ever I have to do

4- Also I was thinking of becoming a ciro anyone have any info on that, better to go towards one or the other?? In your opinion.

5- Also in the US I plan on running my own practice so would it make a huge diff to be a family doctor vs. specialist? And any idea if you can just finish your school and residency and go on your own or do you have to put in more time elsewhere?

6- Any other info anyone may think would help me on this topic would be appreciated also.. thanks.. ohh and I am reading the forum as much as I can ..

 

7- UMMM THIS IS IT FOR NOW BUT IM SURE I WILL ADD SOME MORE LATER ..THANKS IN ADVANCE

[TimmyMax]

Hey,

 

I can answer a few of your questions...

1. Medical school is 4 years at most schools. Some allow you to finish in 3 years. When you are finished medical school, you get your Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. You don't specilaize until residency. That's when you become a generalist (GP) or a specialist.

2. Depending on what residency program you match to, it's 2 years for a GP while most specialties run 5 years or more. These years are in addition to the years you spent in medical school. You can't legally practice in Canada without completing a recognized residency program somewhere. If you went abroad for your residency and are looking to return to Canada to practice, expect difficulty.

3. In residency, you make some money. It's not amazing by any means, but it's not like you're living below the poverty line either. If you do the math and divide your pay by the total number of hours worked, it comes in far below minimum wage on an hourly basis. If you get anything above that, you probably are lazy and aren't putting in nearly as many hours as you should be.

There, hope that helps. I can't really provide any insight into any of your other questions at this time.

[venomous]

hey thanx for the help so far...