Expert: JM Starkman, MD - 9/21/2010

Question
while you are going through all of this college, do you work as part of your schooling as like an assistant

Answer
Working as a paid assistant or apprentice or has become nearly impossible in health care today even though these types of learning arrangements have traditionally made sense in all fields for hundreds of years!  This is largely due to the preposterous number of laws, rules, regulations and other similar burdens placed on hospitals and doctors and employers in general who are increasingly faced with various federal, state and civil liabilities associated with having unlicensed people "around" or under their supervision/direction.   Perhaps as less and less college students are able to afford advanced degrees law makers will repeal instead of writing new rules that promote various businesses to take on paid, student assistants.

Note, however, that there are many fields after which one's formal education is completed that a salaried internship and/or residency follows prior to licensure--and medicine is a good example.