Coming Soon – Medical Education Monday

A recent conversation I had on Twitter concerning becoming and working as a doctor in the United States sparked my interest in what medical education entails around the world. I may or may not have been engaging in this conversation at the precise moment I was supposed to be working on earning said medical education, but hey – think of all the extraordinary insight you’re going to gain as a direct result of my procrastination habit.

I
n the course of this conversation it became very quickly apparent that there are a lot of misconceptions about what it means to be a doctor “stateside.”

Photo Courtesy of Ano Lobb, Flickr Creative Commons
Before you assume I’m undermining the intelligence of foreigners, I should explain that it’s not just people in other countries who don’t understand the process of becoming a doctor in the US, it is (with good reason) anyone who isn’t intimately associated with the process (like my husband, before I employed my supremely charismatic and charming personality to seduce him into becoming the only thing more stressful than a med student – the spouse of a med student). 


I’ve recruited some Twitter friends who are willing to share their stories with us. Some are doctors, some are med students and some just know the process well from the outside, but all have interesting stories and information to help you understand the process of becoming a doctor in various places around the world*. Ah, the magic of the internet.

I’ll kick the series off tomorrow with a peek inside my journey to medical school and what I have to look forward to in the next few years. Every Monday until I run out of volunteers we’ll hear from another person closely associated with this process and learn the similarities and differences of medical education around the world. I’m very excited!


As of now our Medical Eduction Monday guests will be from: 

  • Belgium
  • England
  • Spain
  • Australia
  • Egypt
  • Saudi Arabia
  • The Philippines

If you know anyone who is closely associated with the process of becoming a physician in a country I haven’t listed and think they would be interested in sharing their story with us, then please feel free to send them my way! 

*You know, if for some reason you’re like me and actually interested in understanding that process…in which case you may now kindly refer to yourself as a “nerd-face.”