Yes, a resident is a doctor who holds an MD (Doctor of Medicine) or DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) degree. Residents have graduated from medical school and earned their doctoral degree before starting residency. What they haven’t finished yet is the hands-on specialty training required to practice independently.
This distinction trips people up because residents work under supervision, earn a fraction of what fully trained doctors make, and can’t practice on their own. But they are, by degree and by title, physicians.
What Separates a Resident From Other Doctors
The medical training hierarchy in the U.S. follows a clear path. After four years of college and four years of medical school, a graduate enters residency. First-year residents are called interns. After that first year, they continue as residents for the remainder of their training. Doctors who pursue optional additional training in a narrower focus area after residency are called fellows. At the top are attending physicians, who have completed all training, hold board certification, and practice independently.
The key difference between a resident and an attending isn’t their degree. It’s autonomy. An attending physician provides care without supervision, holds full responsibility for every patient under their watch (including patients treated by residents they oversee), and faces no restrictions on the services they can deliver. A resident provides direct patient care under the guidance of an attending physician or senior resident. Residents gain more independence as they progress through training, but they don’t hold ultimate responsibility for care provided. They also cannot prescribe medications outside the scope of their clinical rotations.
How Long Residency Lasts
Residency length depends entirely on the specialty. Primary care fields like internal medicine and pediatrics require three years. Surgical specialties run five to seven years. Some programs, like those in osteopathic neuromusculoskeletal medicine, can stretch to five years depending on the institution. A physician who then pursues fellowship training adds one to three more years on top of that.
Residents are assigned to their programs through a national system called the Match. After applying and interviewing at programs across the country, both applicants and hospitals rank each other in order of preference. A computer algorithm then pairs them, aiming for the best possible outcome for everyone involved. It’s a binding commitment on both sides.
Licensing During Residency
Here’s where it gets nuanced. Residents can obtain a full, unrestricted medical license during training, but exactly when depends on the state. Most states require just one year of postgraduate training before granting a license. Others require two years (including Alaska, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey), and a few states like Montana and Vermont require three. All states require passing a series of national medical licensing exams.
Even before obtaining a full license, residents practice legally under the authority of their training institution. When prescribing controlled substances, for example, residents don’t use their own federal registration number. Instead, they prescribe under the hospital’s registration using a unique code assigned to them internally. This setup means they can write prescriptions and manage medications, but always within the framework of institutional oversight.
What Residents Actually Do Day to Day
Residents work long hours. Federal rules cap the workweek at 80 hours, averaged over four weeks. Individual shifts can last up to 24 hours, with a minimum of 8 hours of rest between shifts. Residents must get at least one day off per week (averaged over a four-week period) and can be on call no more than once every three nights. Until 2017, first-year residents had a stricter 16-hour shift limit, but that was eliminated.
During those hours, residents are doing real clinical work: seeing patients, making diagnoses, performing procedures, delivering babies, assisting in surgeries. The level of responsibility increases each year. A first-year intern might present their assessment to a senior resident for review, while a fourth-year surgical resident might lead an operation with an attending observing. The training is designed as a gradual ramp toward full independence.
How Residents Are Paid
Despite holding a doctoral degree and working 60 to 80 hours a week, residents earn a modest salary compared to practicing physicians. According to the 2025 survey from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the average first-year resident earns about $68,166 per year. Pay rises modestly with each training year: roughly $70,500 in year two, $73,300 in year three, and up to about $94,200 by year eight for those in the longest programs. Broken down by hourly rate given the hours worked, residents often earn less than many non-physician hospital employees.
Board Certification vs. the MD Degree
Finishing residency doesn’t just hand a physician full independence. There’s one more step most doctors pursue: board certification. This involves passing a rigorous exam in their specialty, administered by one of the national specialty boards. A resident who has completed training but hasn’t yet passed their board exam is considered “board eligible.” Board certification isn’t legally required to practice medicine (state licensure is), but most hospitals and employers expect it. Physicians who don’t become board certified within a certain window after finishing training may face limited job options.
So to return to the original question: a resident absolutely holds an MD or DO degree. They are a real doctor providing real patient care. The difference between a resident and the doctor who oversees them isn’t education level. It’s experience, autonomy, and where they stand on a structured path toward practicing on their own.