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Plastic Surgery in Daytona Beach, FLBoard certification for physicians in the United States is a big deal. Without this board certification, there’s no knowing what kind of medical training your physician has. There are many steps a physician has to go through before getting board certified. Let’s go through each of those important steps to becoming a physician that can be trusted.

Becoming a Physician

Technically every person who goes through and graduates from medical school is a physician. This allows them to put the M.D., after their name. However, just because someone has the title of being a physician does not mean they can practice medicine yet. In order to practice medicine, the physician needs to get their medical license, which is a lengthy process after they go through medical school.

Getting Licensed

The first step to getting a medical license is going through residency. This is often a term we may hear thrown around on medical dramas, but don’t exactly know what it is. Residency is a period of three to five years after medical school in which the physician starts to train in their specialty and get hands-on experience. In going through this residency, physicians are able to be eligible to take the board certification exam.

Board Eligible

Being board eligible means the physician has gone through medical school and completed residency in a specialty or subspecialty of their choosing and are ready to take their final exam. If a physician is a board-eligible, they are not board-certified! This is just a fancy way of saying they are ready to take their board certification exam but have not yet passed. Being board eligible restricts what a physician can do, whereas being board certified gives them free rein.

Board Certification

After being considered board eligible, it’s finally time to take the final exams to become board certified. The exam is a crucial step in the career of the physician as it’s the final stepping stone to being able to practice medicine freely. Surgeons certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery are your best bet to achieve the results you desire from your procedure. Other board certifications, like one for gynecology and one for orthodontics, can be impressive, but won’t do much for your cosmetic results.

Why It’s Important for You

This is all great for the physician, but why is it important for you? Going through medical school to be labeled a physician is not nearly the same thing as being a board-certified physician, as we saw earlier in the blog. If you are looking for someone to conduct a procedure, you need to find someone board certified because their certification proves their experience in the field and their capabilities in the operating room. If a physician is board certified, you can nearly guarantee they will live up to the safety and bedside manner guidelines set in place by the American Board of Medical Specialties, and get the results you desire.

If you are interested in learning more about board certification, contact us to schedule a one-on-one consultation with Dr. Zamora today.