Doctor Health Dictionary

The academic title granted to someone who has a university degree higher than a master’s degree. Some UK universities grant a medical doctorate (MD) for a research thesis of approved standard. In Britain, ‘doctor’ is also the title given to a quali?ed medical practitioner registered by the General Medical Council, usually after he or she has obtained a bachelor’s degree or a diploma in medicine and surgery. In the UK a doctor has to spend a year of supervised practice in a recognised hospital post before he or she is registered as fully quali?ed, but specialists have to obtain further training and higher quali?cations before they can be accredited and therefore practise as specialists in the NHS. General practitioners must complete a three-year vocational training course before practising as an independent GP. In Britain, surgical specialists are customarily addressed as ‘Mr’. Other countries have di?erent regulations.

n. 1. a courtesy title given to a qualified medical practitioner, i.e. one who has been registered by the *General Medical Council (GMC). Most doctors in the UK obtain bachelors’ degrees in medicine and surgery (MB, BS) or the diplomas of the conjoint boards of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of England and Scotland or the Society of Apothecaries (e.g. LRCP, MRCS, LMSSA): these degrees or diplomas are required by the GMC before a person is provisionally registered as a doctor. Normally it is also necessary to undertake training under the medical *Foundation Programme in a hospital recognized for this purpose. Such a doctor has the title foundation doctor and is debarred from independent practice. Thereafter doctors undertake further training to be eligible for full registration on the GMC’s specialist or GP registers (see Appendix 9). Surgeons in the UK do not use the title Doctor and are referred to, as a mark of distinction, as Mr, Mrs, or Ms. Qualified dentists also use the courtesy title Doctor. See also consultant. 2. the title given to a recipient of a higher university degree than a Master’s degree (this is usually a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD or DPhil) degree). The degree Medicinae Doctor (MD) is awarded by some British universities as a research degree to those with a first degree in medicine. In the US, the degree is awarded on qualification.