BOB DOUGHTY: Doctors-in-training in hospitals are known as interns or residents. Many are called interns during their first year. After that, the name of the job is "resident."
Doctors are among the highest paid people in the United States. Big-city doctors who work in specialties like eye care usually earn the most money. Some other doctors earn far less. That is especially true in poor communities.
BOB DOUGHTY: Most people seeking admission contact more than one medical school. Some applicants contact many. An important part of the application usually is the Medical College Admission Test, or MCAT. The Association of American Medical Colleges provides the test by computer. It is offered in the United States and in other countries.
Researchers for the RAND Corporation and the University of California at Los Angeles have said that few medical errors cause injury. They also said changing work rules could cause other kinds of mistakes. If resident doctors work shorter hours, the researchers said, errors could happen when one resident takes control of a patient's care from another.
By Jerilyn Watson
2010-7-12
Photo: AP
A resident working at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia
FAITH LAPIDUS: Critics of limiting hours say such a requirement could cost American hospitals about one billion seven hundred million dollars a year.
The Princeton Review says competition to enter medical schools is strong. American medical schools have only about sixteen thousand openings for students. However, more than two times this many seek entry. Many of those seeking admittance are women.
A team led by Alex Blum of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York found that the public wants to limit work hours by resident doctors. The study found there is strong support for restricting work by doctors-in-training to sixteen or fewer hours at one time. The team said that would be similar to what is required in New Zealand, Britain and Europe.
FAITH LAPIDUS: People who want to become doctors often study a lot of biology, chemistry or other science. Some students work for a year or two in a medical or research job before they attempt to enter medical school.
All fifty states require at least one year of hospital work for doctors-in-training educated at medical schools in the United States. Graduates of study programs at most foreign medical schools may have to complete two or three years of residency, although there are exceptions.
BOB DOUGHTY: Whatever the Accreditation Council decides, American public opinion about the issue appears clear. That is true, at least, of most of one thousand two hundred people who recently answered questions for a study on the issue.
People can get advice about medical schools from many resources. One of these is a publication, the Princeton Review. It provides information about colleges, study programs and jobs.
(MUSIC)
FAITH LAPIDUS: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.
BOB DOUGHTY: Clearly, the hours of service required of doctors in training are disputed. Even if the hours are reduced, they are also clearly demanding. Still, uncounted people throughout the world want to be doctors. And, it does not seem that hard work will stop them.
BOB DOUGHTY: And I'm Bob Doughty. Listen again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.
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