Doctor of medicine profession (MD)

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Types of health care providers

Physician

The practice of medicine in the United States dates back to colonial times (early 1600s). At the beginning of the 17th century, medical practice in England was divided into three groups: the physicians, the surgeons, and the apothecaries.

Physicians were seen as elite and usually held a university degree. Surgeons were typically hospital-trained and they did apprenticeships. They often served the dual role of barber-surgeon. Apothecaries also learned their roles (prescribing, making, and selling medicines) through apprenticeships, sometimes in hospitals.

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This distinction between medicine, surgery, and pharmacy did not survive in colonial America. When university-prepared MDs from England arrived in America, they were expected to also perform surgery and prepare medicines. The class distinctions and snobbishness of physicians over surgeons quickly changed.

The New Jersey Medical Society, chartered July 23, 1766, was the first organization of medical professionals in the colonies. It was developed to "form a program embracing all the matters of highest concern to the profession: regulation of practice; educational standards for apprentices; fee schedules; and a code of ethics." Later this organization became the Medical Society of New Jersey. It remains the oldest medical society in the United States.

Professional societies began regulating medical practice by examining and licensing practitioners as early as 1760. By the early 1800s, the medical societies were in charge of establishing regulations, standards of practice, and certification of doctors.

A natural next step was for such societies to develop their own training programs for doctors. These society-affiliated programs were called "proprietary" medical colleges.

The first of these proprietary programs was the medical college of the Medical Society of the County of New York, founded March 12, 1807. Proprietary programs began to spring up everywhere. They attracted a large number of students because they eliminated two features of university-affiliated medical schools: a long general education and a long lecture term.