EDUCATION SYSTEM IN NURSING

Comparing & Contrasting Education System In Nursing United States And The UK

Comparing And Contrasting Education System In Nursing United States And The UK

United States

The Association of American Medical Colleges and American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine list 130 accredited MD-granting and 28 accredited DO-granting medical schools the United States, respectively. (Ackerknecht, 2002)

Admission to medical school in the United States is based mainly on GPA, MCAT score, admissions essay, interview, and volunteering activities, along with research and leadership roles in an applicant's history. However, race-conscious preference (affirmative action) is practiced by many American medical schools. (Benner, 2004) While obtaining an undergraduate degree is not an explicit requirement for a few medical schools, virtually all admitted students have earned at least a bachelor's degree. A few medical schools offer pre-admittance to students directly from high-school by linking a joint 3-year accelerated undergraduate degree and a standard 4-year medical degree with certain undergraduate universities, sometimes referred to as a "7-year program", where the student receives a bachelor's degree after their first year in medical school. (Lakhan, 2003)

As undergraduates, students must complete a series of prerequisites, consisting of biology, physics, and chemistry (organic and inorganic). (Benoliel, 2007) Many medical schools have additional requirements including calculus, genetics, statistics, biochemistry, English, and/or humanities classes. In addition to meeting the pre-medical requirements, medical school applicants must take and report their scores on the MCAT, a standardized test that measures a student's knowledge of the sciences and the English language. (Boore, 2006) Some students apply for medical school following their third year of undergraduate education while others pursue advanced degrees or other careers prior to applying for medical school. (Grace, 2008)

In the nineteenth century, there were over four hundred medical schools in the United States. By 1910, the number was reduced to one hundred and forty-eight medical schools and by 1930 the number totaled only seventy-six. Many early medical schools were criticized for being diploma mills that turned out quacks. (Benner, 2004) This and other problems lead to the creation of the American Medical Association in 1847 for the purpose of self-regulation of the profession. Abraham Flexner (who in 1910 released the Flexner report with the Carnegie Foundation), the Rockefeller Foundation and the AMA are credited with laying the groundwork for what is now known as the modern medical curriculum. (Lakhan, 2003)

The standard U.S. medical school curriculum is four years long. Traditionally, the first two years are composed mainly of classroom basic sciences education, while the last two years primarily include rotations in clinical settings where students learn patient care firsthand. (Boore, 2006) Today, clinical education is still spread across all four years, with the final years being more heavily weighted towards clinical rotations. (Grace, 2008) Some schools such as the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Medical College of South Carolina offer an integrated radiology curriculum during their MD Programs as part of the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity study.[8] Upon successful completion of medical school, students are granted the title ...