Post Residency: Obtaining a License

After you have finally completed roughly three to eight years of residency, you are finally able to get your own practicing license. You are required by law in all states to become licensed in order to practice medicine on your own. In order to get your license you would have to graduate from medical school, complete a residency program, and also must pass the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination
(USMLE) for M.D.s. or the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Exam(COMLEX-USA) for D.O.s.

This seems like its pretty simple, get into medical school, pass all your exams, go to residency and pass either the USMLE or COMLEX-USA exam as well depending on whether you are an M.D. or D.O., but your not done just yet.

When applying to get your license to practice, its an overall three to 6 month process. The reason behind this time is because sure you must be academically fit for helping people with medical problems, but also have to make sure the patients are safe. Therefore extensive background checks are done, educational checks, and more training are needed to obtain a license.

Works Cited:

"Steps to Become a Doctor." Study. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2015

              <http://study.com/steps_to_become_a_doctor.html>.