The path to becoming a doctor is seemingly never ending. It starts in high school, where one must work hard to get into a reputable undergraduate institution. Then college, where a series of weed-out science classes with labs, pre-med requirement classes, research experience hours, clinical experience hours, and classes for whatever one is actually majoring in. Then you have to take the MCAT, which is essentially a cumulative final over general chemistry, organic chemistry, biology and physics.

Once one manages to get into medical school, there are four more grueling years of intense studying, exams and tuition. And, if one gets through that, they make it onto their residency, which can last up to eight years depending on the specialty. One may not hold their desired career until after age 30.

The New York Times recently published an article about how schools, such as New York University's School of Medicine, are creating and implementing three-year medical school programs as opposed to the traditional four years. Not only does this cut back the time of being in school, but it also cuts one year of tuition. But, according to the article, there would be a need to cram more information into less time. Moreover, the med school students may not have enough time to explore the many different fields of medicine.

In the 1960s and 1970s, similar trials for a three-year approach to medical school were implemented to help the shortage of doctors, and those students even scored higher on tests than their four-year program counterparts, according to The New York Times. The problem that arose was these students found it more difficult to get into residency programs, which then reflected poorly on the medical schools, and most of the programs were revoked. The whole situation is quite backwards-if test performance is better and patient care is not compromised then there is no reason that three-year programs should not be implemented.
One way to help the three-year approach become successful would be to create a program where students are accepted out of high school and are put on track to complete an undergraduate degree as well as an M.D. in seven years. Special classes could be created to aid the transition between the two, or eliminate any information in classes that is repetitive. There would also be the opportunity to switch out of the program at any point during the first year or so, and the student would pursue any other degree at the undergraduate institution.

Another way that the three-year program can be successful is to prepare specifically family care doctors, which is what Texas Tech Health Science Center School of Medicine and Mercer University School of Medicine in Savannah, Ga are trying out, according The New York Times. It is noted that this is implemented not because being a family physician is any less difficult or prestigious than other fields of medicine, but rather because there is a growing demand for family doctors that cannot be ignored. Regardless of whether or not that is true, if family doctors can go through medical school in three years and be adequately educated and prepared then there is no reason to tack on an extra year. The last year of medical school is dedicated to more specific rotations that are elected by the student, and, because a family care physician doesn't usually deal with such specificities, the final year of medical school is less relevant compared to a student who wants to specialize in a certain field of medicine.

But a three-year approach to medical school is just one step in fixing the greater problem of the growing shortage of physicians. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, fewer than 50 percent of medical school applicants are being accepted, meaning thousands of potential doctors are lost.

That is not to say that anyone should be able to get into medical school, but there are probably a few thousand applicants who would make perfectly fine doctors. Expanding the size of the medical schools, even slightly, would greatly increase the number of physicians in the United States.

Hopefully implementing three-year approaches to medical school will be a step in the right direction that universities continue to take.

As the physician shortage looms as one of the most pressing issues in the near future, solutions should be explored and applied before we start feeling the effects.
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