What is residency?

Residency is a stage of postgraduate medical training in North America and leads to eligibility for board certification in a primary care or referral specialty. It is filled by a resident physician who has received a medical degree (M.D. or D.O.) and is comprised almost entirely of the care of hospitalized or clinic patients, mostly with direct supervision by more senior physicians. A residency may follow the internship year or include the internship year as the first year of residency. Whereas medical school gives doctors a broad range of medical knowledge, basic clinical skills, and limited experience practicing medicine, medical residency gives in-depth training within a specific branch of medicine, such as anesthesiology, dermatology, emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, pathology, pediatric medicine, psychiatry, physical medicine and rehabilitation, radiology, radiation oncology, general surgery. The field of surgery has several specialties such as neurosurgery, orthopaedics, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, and urology.