(( To All Aspiring Physician Applicants ))

[Joshua Mullins]

(( The Pillbox Hill Medical Center welcomes all players interested to apply for a physician position. With this in mind, we feel the need to address some aspects of our faction in order to ensure that the continuity of the server and faction are kept intact. Furthermore, we also feel that the following will help incoming players ensure that our roleplay standards are kept high.

In the United States, there are here levels of education an individual goes through before becoming a fully licensed physician:

1. Pre-medical education, which involves the individual successfully obtaining a four-year degree in a STEM major. Furthermore, it also involves the individual taking the MCAT and applying for medical school.
2. Medical school, which involves the individual successfully getting into an accredited United States (or foreign) medical school, and taking all steps of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (ideally successfully). The individual will also be exposed to the hospital setting in their third or fourth year of medical school. Medical school generally lasts 4 years, to which the individual will graduate with a Doctorate of Medicine. The process is similar for Doctorate of Osteopathic Medicine students, however, there are some key differences in overall education and required tests. Students, regardless of their medical path (either MD or DO), participate in the National Resident Matching Program, where they — if they wish (which, also, is what generally happens) — match into a residency (e.g., emergency medicine, anesthesia, internal medicine, etc.).
3. Internship & Residency, which involves the newly minted physician learning their matched specialty under the supervision of senior physicians (attending physicians). During their first year of residency, physicians take the title of “intern” (e.g., “intern physician”), whereas they take up the title of “resident” (e.g., “resident physician”) after their first year of residency. They work under the direct supervision of an attending physician. All in all, the attending is charged with the care of the patient, and the resident is merely there to learn, assist, etc. Residency depends on your specialty — emergency medicine residencies generally last three-to-four years, while general surgery residencies last roughly five years. Funny enough, plastic surgery residences can last for seven years.

Residency is usually defined by how long a person has been graduated from medical school, or postgraduate year (PGY). For example, a physician who is PGY-2 is in their second year of residency. Upon successful completion of their residency and all required board certifications and licenses, the individual can be considered an attending physician, whereas they have all required training and education, and can function as an independent practitioner. However, residents may continue their education. Upon completion of their residency, residents may elect to go into a fellowship, where they may focus on a specific area of their specialty. For example, emergency medicine residents may elect to go into an emergency medical services fellowship.

Now that we have a basic understanding of how the United States’ physician education system works, we can move onto what we — the faction — expects from anyone who seeks a spot within the faction:

1. Medical Schools: You may choose any accredited medical school within the United States (a list of accredited medical schools in the United States), including medical schools located within the United States’ territories (e.g., in the Virgin Islands, which have lower MCAT and overall requirements for admission), or any approved foreign medical school. Foreign applicants must roleplay that they have successfully passed all of their USMLE steps.
2. Residency & Attending Positions: Applicants with minimal medical experience, but enough for the faction, should apply for a resident physician spot. Residents are still in training, and are expected not to know everything that of an attending physician. Players with sufficient experience in medical/hospital roleplay should consider applying for an attending physician position. If a player chooses to apply for a resident physician spot, although their character has been an attending physician, then they must roleplay it realistically; players must not roleplay a fully certified and educated physician for a position which assumes that the player’s character is freshly graduated merely because there are no other suitable positions for that player’s character. Though uncommon, it is not unheard of an attending physician restarting their training/residency in another specialty — this may be an option. Do not unrealistically apply for positions.
3. Locations: When applying for positions, players must ensure that server continuity is kept intact; New York City does not exist, instead, Liberty City exists, etc. Any states without a GTA-lore equivalent are appropriate (e.g., Oregon).

We do not expect you to know everything. However, physicians within the faction are expected to be leaders in the servers medical community — they are going to be role models for subordinate faction members. With this in mind, we encourage any player, who believes they have the appropriate knowledge and will to learn, to apply for residency or an attending position within the faction.

For those who are uncomfortable with the idea of jumping into a leading role right away, we suggest they first apply to a lower position in the hospital for the purpose of gathering experience (LPN or RN). ))