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kleinbl00  ·  4579 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Life in the Quiet Zone
It's pretty much a specialty of its own.

In order to be licensed by any state medical board that licenses, you have to graduate from a program that takes a minimum of 4 years, requires a minimum of 1 year of cadaver study anatomy, and will give you the tools you need to pass medical boards. These boards are similar and parallel to the medical board exams, but not entirely equivalent; the NPLEX takes four days and is taken all at once, while the medical boards take (I believe) 5 days and are taken in three intervals. Compare and contrast:

http://www.nabne.org/nabne_page_23.php

http://www.usmle.org/Examinations/step1/step1.html

There is also no residency requirement to be a naturopathic doctor, primarily because there aren't enough residencies available. Of my wife's graduating class, approximately 1/3rd went into a 1-year residency, and about half of them did a 2-year.

As far as "specialization" it's more a "parallel degree" approach, and those are truly rare. My wife's class graduated 140 NDs but only two ND midwives and only 3 ND-AOM (asian-oriental medicine). The ND Midwifery program takes 5-6 years, full time, while the ND-AOM takes 6 years full-time. And while we're reaching the limits of my understanding, I would hypothesize that since naturopathic health is very much holistic, specializing in "naturopathic cardiology" would run contrary to the basic philosophy. That said, most naturopathic doctors have their "specialties" based on the clients they see. My wife has specifically moved towards treating children and away from cancer patients and palliative care. She has a colleague that emphasizes weight loss etc.