PBRIZ said:
Hi Could someone give me some info on the internship year after the completion of the 5 year program in Ireland. Is this necessary if you are trying to return to Canada or the U.S? How do you apply/obtain an intern position in Canada and the U.S? And after you do this intern year, how many years of residency do you have to complete?
I would be really grateful if someone could give me a clear breakdown of the steps from obtaining the medical degree to becoming a licensed physician including the obstacles one might face being an IMG returning to Canada/US. Thanks
The Intern year in Ireland to get Full Registration with the Irish Medical Council. As a graduate, you will have just Provisional Registration. If you wish to ever come back and practice, you need to get an intern year somewhere else then validated. As is common practice, the IMC recognise intern years in US residencies also, you just send them the details.
You can apply for US/Canada residencies in med school , or you can do it while completing an intern year in Ireland. It makes no difference but you'll be much less clueless!. As a factor of being in college in Ireland, med school isn't "completed" until you do an intern year and get full registration - i.e., every student in med school will be entitled to have an intern place (if they want - plenty leave at graduation, intern in US and get that validated for full registration if even still cared!).
The intern year is not necessary to get into a US/CA residency; it does make you look more experienced of course.
The intern year in Ireland is not recongised as an Intern year in US/Canada - this is because the intern year in Ireland is not part of training program unlike say, an internal medicine intern year which is *part* of the training of 3 years. In Ireland, you are not in a training program for say, surgery, medicine until *after* the intern year. You would still need to complete the full residency.
What is recognised is Royal College membership exams, e.g., FRCS, MRCP and those to varying degrees and by varying amounts depending on the institution. For example, FRCS might chop 1 or even 2 years off a residency.
