| Three categories of medical professional are proposed for the USA: medical practitioners, medical clinicians, and medical scientists. The duties of the medical practitioner would correspond with those of the assistant medical officer found in other countries. This professional, after attaining a bachelor's degree, would provide primary medical care. A suitable curriculum is outlined. The medical clinician would correspond to the medical specialist, and training and education would be similar. The medical clinician would not practice primary care but would treat only referrals from medical practitioners and self-referred patients. The medical scientist, who could have a doctoral field other than medicine, would pursue a narrow specialization, and his activities would be confined to an academic setting. Finally, the system would allow a medical practitioner to aspire to the other two categories. The author concludes that this new structure would remove the overlap and irrelevance in present educational programmes. |