Recently several patients have asked me the question "Doc, how much time does it really take to be a physician?" The answer depends on your type of specialty. Below is a response to this that I hope will help others understand how much time and training is involved in becoming a Family Physician.

The road to becoming a licensed, board certified physician is a long and hard but worth the work in the end. Physicians spend the equivalent of 20 years of full-time work just learning how to be a physician. This sounds like an incredible claim but after evaluation it is seen to be true.

First, one must earn a bachelor’s degree from an accredited four year college. This takes about four years or 6,400 hours of work (4 years x 40 wks/yr x 40 hrs/wk = 6,400 hours). In order to be a competitive student one must study more than this. This usually includes performing volunteer work and research but this is a hard number to quantify and so I won’t count it here. After college future a student must attend medical school. Medical students spend about 80 hours per week for 48 weeks each year studying, training and clerking which amounts to 15,360 hours over four years. After medical school, physicians must complete a post-graduate training program of some short which is known as a residency. Residents work long hours, weekends, nights and holidays. Most approach the legal work hour limit of 80 hrs/wk for 50 weeks each year. Many residents exceed 80 hrs/wk studying and doing research in addition to their clinical responsibilities. During my training (before the limitations to the time a resident could work) I was working between 100-120 hours per week in my intern year, and 80-100 hours per week during my second and third years of residency.

While in medical school student are required to take and pass Part I and II the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE©). Part III is taken after the intern year. Specialty board testing is then taken after completion of the Residency. For example, to become board certified in Family Medicine you must graduate from medical school, pass all 3 USMLEs, complete a 3-year Family Medicine residency and pass the board exam. A board certified Family Physician will spend about 34,000 hours training. A board certified Thoracic Surgeon one must graduate from medical school, pass all 3 USMLEs, complete a 5-year General Surgery residency, take the specialty board for General Surgery, complete a 2-year thoracic surgery fellowship and pass the Thoracic Surgery board exams. A board-certified Thoracic Surgeon will spend about 49,760 hours training. The shortest residency training programs are 3 years long and include the primary care specialties of Internal Medicine, Family Medicine and Pediatrics.

The long hours don’t necessarily end after residency but after completing this training the hours don’t seem that long. In 2007, physicians from over 20 specialties were asked how many hours per week they generally work – the average was 59.6 hours per week. So even after physicians finish their 40,000 hours of training they continue to work long hours, but in order to maintain and grow your medical skills and expertise, this is necessary.

The dedication that is required to finish all of this shows in the quality of physicians practicing in the U.S. No other country in the world (that I know of) has such a strenuous and demanding physician training program.