when does a medical student become a resident
Residency (medicine) A resident physician is more commonly referred to as a resident, senior house officer (in Commonwealth countries), or alternatively as a senior resident medical officer or house officer. Residents have graduated from an accredited medical school and hold a medical degree (MD, DO, MBBS, MBChB). Residents are, collectively, the house staff of a hospital. This term comes from the fact that resident physicians traditionally spend the majority of their training "in house," i.e., the hospital. Duration of residencies can range from three years to seven years, depending upon the program and specialty. A year in residency begins between late June and early July depending on the individual program, and ends one calendar year later. In the United States, the first year of residency is known as an internship with those physicians being termed "interns." Depending on the number of years a specialty requires, the term junior resident may refer to residents that have not completed half their residency. Senior residents are residents in their final year of residency, although this can vary. Some residency programs refer to residents in their final year as chief residents (typically in surgical branches). Alternatively, a chief resident may describe a resident who has been selected to extend his or her residency by one year and organize the activities and training of the other residents (typically in internal medicine and pediatrics). If a physician finishes a residency and decides to further his or her education in a fellowship, he or she is referred to as a "fellow." Physicians who have fully completed their training in a particular field are referred to as attending physicians, or consultants (in Commonwealth countries). However, the above nomenclature applies only in educational institutes in which the period of training is specified in advance. In privately owned, non-training hospitals, in certain countries, the above terminology may reflect the level of responsibility held by a physician rather than their level of education.