Master of Surgery

The Master of Surgery (Latin: Magister Chirurgiae) is an advanced qualification in surgery. Depending upon the degree, it may be abbreviated Ch.M., M.Ch., M.Chir. or M.S. At a typical medical school the program lasts between two and three years. The possession of a medical degree is a prerequisite. The Ch.M. can be awarded on both clinical and academic competency or on academic competency. The regulations may ask for surgical experience and a thesis topic that is not purely medical, but otherwise there is little to distinguish the ChM from the MD.

History

The Masters of Surgery, or Ch.M. is an advanced qualification in surgical medicine, established in Great Britain in the middle of the 19th Century. The qualification was designed to be awarded as a higher degree to the Bachelor of Surgery degree (usually Ch.B.).

Many universities have stopped holding written and clinical examinations for the Ch.M., and focused solely on the thesis and oral examination. Only Oxford and Cambridge still have a ("Part One") examination before submission of the thesis and oral examination on the same for the degrees which they abbreviate as M.Ch. and M.Chir. respectively.