The United States does not have enough doctors. Every year, since the 1950s, internationally trained and osteopathic medical graduates have been needed to fill residency positions - because there are too few American-trained MDs.

Doctors’ Orders offers a groundbreaking examination of the construction, and consequences, of status distinctions between physicians before, during, and after residency training. Tania M. Jenkins spent years observing and interviewing American, international, and osteopathic medical residents in two hospitals, to reveal the unspoken mechanisms that are taken for granted, and that lead to hierarchies among supposed equals. She finds that the United States does not need formal policies to prioritize American-trained MDs. By relying on a system of informal beliefs and practices that equate status with merit, and eclipse structural disadvantages, the profession convinces international and osteopathic graduates to participate in a system that subordinates them to American-trained MDs. Offering a rare, ethnographic look at the inner workings of an elite profession, Doctors’ Orders sheds new light on the formation of informal status hierarchies, and their significance for both doctors and patients.

The book is published by Columbia University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.