Physician Training and Credentials

Posted: March 1, 2005

When choosing a doctor for your cancer care, you may find it helpful to know some of the terms used to describe a doctor’s training and credentials.

Most physicians who treat people with cancer are medical doctors (they have an M.D. degree). The basic training for a physician includes four years of premedical education at a college or university, four years of medical school to earn an M.D. degree, and a residency consisting of three to seven years of postgraduate education and training.

Physicians must pass an exam to become licensed (legally permitted) to practice medicine in their state. Each state or territory has its own procedures and general standards for licensing physicians.

What are specialists?
Specialists are physicians who have completed their residency training in a specific area, such as cardiologists. Independent specialty boards certify physicians after they have fulfilled certain requirements. These requirements include meeting specific education and training criteria, being licensed to practice medicine, and passing an examination given by the specialty board.

Doctors who have met all of the requirements are given the status of “Diplomate” and are board-certified as specialists. Doctors who are “board-eligible” have obtained the required education and training, but have not completed the specialty board examination.

After being trained and certified as a specialist, a physician may choose to become a subspecialist. A subspecialist has at least one additional year of full-time education in a particular area of a specialty. This training is designed to increase the physician’s expertise in a specific field. Specialists can be board-certified in their subspecialty as well.

Fellows
Almost all board-certified specialists are members of their medical specialty society. Physicians can attain Fellowship status in a specialty society, such as the American College of Surgeons (ACS), if they demonstrate outstanding achievement in their profession. Criteria for Fellowship status may include the number of years of membership in the specialty society, years practicing in the specialty, and professional recognition by peers.

The following are some specialties and subspecialties that pertain to cancer treatment:

Medical Oncology is a subspecialty of internal medicine. Doctors who specialize in internal medicine treat a wide range of medical problems. Medical oncologists treat cancer and manage the patient’s course of treatment. A medical oncologist may also consult with other physicians about the patient’s care or refer the patient to other specialists.

Hematology is a subspecialty of internal medicine. Hematologists focus on diseases of the blood and related tissues, including the bone marrow, spleen, and lymph nodes.

Radiation Oncology is a subspecialty of radiology. Radiology is the use of X-rays and other forms of radiation to diagnose and treat disease. Radiation oncologists specialize in the use of radiation to treat cancer.

Surgery is a specialty that pertains to the treatment of disease by surgical operation. General surgeons perform operations on almost any area of the body. Physicians can also choose to specialize in a certain type of surgery; for example, thoracic surgeons are specialists who perform operations specifically in the chest area.

Information about other specialties that treat cancer is available from the American Board of Medical Specialties® (ABMS) in a booklet called Which Medical Specialist For You? This publication is available at http://www.abms.org/which.asp on the Internet. It can also be obtained by writing to: American Board of Medical Specialties, Suite 404, 1007 Church Street, Evanston, IL 60201–5913.

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