To become a psychiatrist, one must earn an undergraduate degree, complete medical school, gain practical experience in a residency program, pass the psychiatry exam, and obtain state and federal licenses. Psychiatrists can prescribe medication and require a federal narcotics license.
There are four main types of psychiatrist qualifications that these specific types of physicians need to meet in order to practice as a psychiatrist. The four psychiatrist qualifications include earning an undergraduate degree, earning a medical degree, gaining practical experience as a resident, and earning a few different types of state and federal licenses.
The first of the psychiatrist qualifications is for the intended psychiatrist to obtain an undergraduate degree. The most common type of degree for a beginning psychiatrist to earn is in psychology. However, this is not a major requirement, so other degree options potential psychiatrists may pursue include degrees in biology, natural sciences, chemistry or physics. Other potential degrees could even be in math, humanities or English.
After earning an undergraduate degree from an accredited institution, the psychiatrist’s next qualification is applying to medical school. Psychiatrists must complete an accredited medical school program, just as any surgeon, physician, or any other type of physician would have to. The degree program in medicine typically takes four years to complete. After graduating from medical school, psychiatrist qualifications require the graduate to gain practical experience and training in a residency program.
A residency program is typically another four years of training that the psychiatrist needs to complete. Psychiatrists are required to work in multiple fields of medicine, not just the field of psychiatry. That means part of the residency includes rotations in the ER or urgent care centers, internal medicine, neurology, family medicine, and pediatrics. After finishing the residency, the psychiatrist’s next qualification is to take the psychiatry exam.
In the US, the psychiatry exam is the United States Medical Licensing Exam. After the psychiatrist passes the exam, they need to apply for a license in the state where they want to practice psychiatry. Typically, it is the Secretary of State or the state’s Office of Business Licensing that provides applications and issues licenses for psychiatry.
It is important to remember that a psychiatrist is a doctor or physician, while a psychologist is not. As a physician, a psychiatrist can prescribe medication to patients, while a psychologist cannot. For this reason, psychiatrists also need to obtain an additional license, which is a federal narcotics license. The psychiatrist is also required to register as a psychiatrist with the Drug Enforcement Administration because they can administer narcotics and other medications to their patients.
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