What is the difference between a qualification board and a master's degree in medicine?

Answer 1

In the US, a master's degree in medicine would indicate that the holder is a physician who has completed a one to two-year graduate program in a specific area of medical research.

A board certification is not research-oriented. It is a qualification denoting competence in a given medical specialty. In the US it is acquired by completing a three to five-year residency program at a major medical center after graduating from medical school. Upon successful completion of the residency, and, in some specialties, after an additional period of several years of clinical practice, the physician is then allowed to stand for the board certification within his own field of expertise. The examination is notoriously difficult and long. Successful candidates become "diplomates" of an AMA-approved specialty board (for instance: the American Board of Pediatrics) for a period of seven years. Specialists need to complete a designated number of hours of continuing medical education each year, and must be re-certified by their examining boards every seven years.