mbchb mbbs bmbs mbbch bmbch vs Southampton BM

I know all these are equal medical qualifications. And if you got them from a British medical school your good to go. But I also know they are a title you can pit after your name so would a soton grad feel a bit peed off to only have a BM as opposed to the MBChB or MBBS. ie dr Smith BM instead of dr Smith MBBS. And also why is it that Southampton dont offer an official bachelor of surgery qualification even though they can do surgery?

The fact that there's no 'surgery' in the name doesn't mean that the qualification is any less 'official' for the surgical skills part than it is anywhere else.

I know exactly my point, so why did the uni decide to go against convention and not include a bachelour of surgery honours?

Oh OK, it wasn't entirely clear to me that you realised. And I have no idea, someone else might. I'd have just thought it had something to do with wanting to be different or something. Wikipedia has nothing.

I've been looking at this myself recently as I'm considering going to Southampton. I've read on the Internet, can't remember exactly where, that when the medical school was set up, it was put to a vote and it was settled that 'BM' would make Southampton graduates unique.

However, it IS equivalent and wouldn't put any burden on a surgical career.


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I know all these are equal medical qualifications. And if you got them from a British medical school your good to go. But I also know they are a title you can pit after your name so would a soton grad feel a bit peed off to only have a BM as opposed to the MBChB or MBBS. ie dr Smith BM instead of dr Smith MBBS. And also why is it that Southampton dont offer an official bachelor of surgery qualification even though they can do surgery?

I know all these are equal medical qualifications. And if you got them from a British medical school your good to go. But I also know they are a title you can pit after your name so would a soton grad feel a bit peed off to only have a BM as opposed to the MBChB or MBBS. ie dr Smith BM instead of dr Smith MBBS. And also why is it that Southampton dont offer an official bachelor of surgery qualification even though they can do surgery?

I agree i'm in favour of standardizing all the medical degrees. I would recommend MD as the primary medical qualification, since it is used in many places including the US.

However, even if not I would still recommend all the MB ChB, MBBS, BMBS, BM, MB BChir, BM BCh and MB BCh BAOs all come together to ONE degree.

Its so frustrating to have so many different degrees that all mean the same thing.

I think it's just so that it is unique. Similarly Oxford and Cambridge have slight variations on the MBBS theme. I guess the other MBChB variations were already taken.

I know all these are equal medical qualifications. And if you got them from a British medical school your good to go. But I also know they are a title you can pit after your name so would a soton grad feel a bit peed off to only have a BM as opposed to the MBChB or MBBS. ie dr Smith BM instead of dr Smith MBBS. And also why is it that Southampton dont offer an official bachelor of surgery qualification even though they can do surgery?

It lies with mainly the fact that none of the variations roll off the tongue easily. Its much easier to say MD then it is to say MB B----whatever your degree is.

Generally the abbreviation of a degree is best kept at 3 letters or less with 4 being acceptable.

I agree i'm in favour of standardizing all the medical degrees. I would recommend MD as the primary medical qualification, since it is used in many places including the US.

However, even if not I would still recommend all the MB ChB, MBBS, BMBS, BM, MB BChir, BM BCh and MB BCh BAOs all come together to ONE degree.

Its so frustrating to have so many different degrees that all mean the same thing.

Except that an MD is a postgraduate qualification in the UK. You don't leave medical school with a Doctorate, so the MD isn't going to catch on as a medical school qualification anytime soon. It's not as if anyone ever says what they have anyway, it's either written or you say 'doctor'.

As for your last point, most UK grads have BA (Hons) or BSc (Hons) - that's 9/10 character spaces. MBChB is only five.

But no one actually says BA (hons) in practice and since the vast majority have (hons) its really fallen out of general usage. Most people say "bachelors" or "BA", "BSc" when speaking or writing.

The MD was actually invented here in the UK, in Scotland actually and the degree given was an MD until the late 1800s in Scotland. Considering that we call physicians "doctors", it isn't terribly far-fetched to call the medical degree an MD.

Australia has begun the process of switching from MB to MD.

So say we switch the undergraduate program to being an MD, what do you do with the postgrad lot getting their actual doctorate?