National Doctor’s Day, Thursday, March 30

National Doctor’s Day is celebrated on March 30 annually in the United States to honor physicians for the work they do for their patients in their communities and for society.

• There are over a million physicians in the United States.
• The education and training of physicians typically includes four years of college, four years of medical school, three to five years of residency training in the chosen specialty and one to three years of additional training for sub-specialists.
• There are two different but equivalent degrees doctors can earn: Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO).
• The training years are difficult with long work hours of often 80 hours per week, low pay and many overnight shifts in the hospital. In addition, the highest levels of professionalism, conduct and ethics are expected of doctors.
• Areas of practice include the primary care specialties such as family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics. Other specialties include surgery, obstetrics and gynecology and psychiatry. There are well over 100 specialties and sub-specialties in the United States.
• The specialty that sees the most patients during office visits is family medicine.

Thank you to our HPC physicians: Emily M. Bush, MD, Cheri El-Halawany, MD, FAAP, Kare Lyche, MD, Ahmed Maher, MD, and Noriko Okahara, DO, MPH, for their hard work and dedication to patients and the clinic. We appreciate all that you do to support and serve our patients!