Physician vs Doctor
It is no use taking over the counter drugs for a long time, and you must consult a doctor. This is a common refrain of people when they see a man buying OTC to cure his symptoms. Physician is another word used commonly for health care providers. We say that we have a family physician that looks after our health problems. If both, a physician and a doctor, treat our symptoms of illnesses, what is the difference between them and why two titles for the same qualification? Let us find out in this article.
Physician
If you look up a dictionary to find the meaning of the word physician, you would come to a conclusion that the person called as a physician is a healthcare provider who is trained to make diagnosis and then prescribe medications to treat the symptoms of various illnesses. Whenever there are symptoms that signal something wrong with the body of an individual, he gets an appointment with his physician to make sure he gets proper diagnosis and treatment, if indeed he is suffering from an ailment. When the symptoms are such that a physician feels the patient must be seen by a specialist, he has the power to refer him to a specialist.
To become a physician, a student has to pass the entrance examination and get admission in a medical school. He has to complete 4 years of medical studies to get a bachelor’s degree that qualifies them to be a premed. After this, he has to study further for 4 years to become a proper doctor to be able to prescribe medications and diagnose the patients. This is when he becomes a physician or a doctor of medicine.
Doctor
After becoming a physician, a student can choose to go for specialization in a particular field of medicine. For this, he has to undergo two years of rigorous studies and training in the chosen field to get a post bachelor degree. This is when he becomes an MD and a specialist in surgery, orthopedics, gynecology, dermatology, ENT or any other field of medicine. A doctor is thus a health care provider who is a step higher than a physician as he has undergone 2-3 years of studies more than a surgeon. He has gotten an additional qualification in the form of a master’s degree that makes him a super specialist in his chosen field of medicine.
Physician vs Doctor
• A physician is a doctor who is qualified to make a diagnosis and also prescribe medications to treat his patients.
• A physician has undergone 4 years of studies in a pre med school to get an undergraduate degree and then again 4 years of studies in a medical school, to become eligible finally to work as a physician.
• Those students who want to study further go for 2-3 years of specialization in their chosen field of medicine. These students become specialist doctors such as gynecologists, cardiac surgeons, orthopedic doctor, and so on.
• When a physician is under a doubt, he can refer his patient to a specialist doctor