Surgeon in home country

[Nankanbklyn]

Hi all,
I'm a surgeon in my home country and plan to come to the US. I have obtained permanent status (permanent resident) so I don't need to apply for a visa. I completed my residency (outside US) directly after med school (outside US). I'm considering coming to the US, but the residency programs look extremely competitive. I have a few questions:
1. Will my age lessen my chances of getting into a program (I'm 32)?
2. Does the fact that I have already completed a residency in surgery make my application look better than others. Will that give me MUCH of an advantage over others??
3. Will I have to re-do an entire 5 year residency in surgery, or is there a way to "skip" some years.
4. What route do u recommend I take. In what order should/must I do things, in terms of residency, observership, fellowship, internship, externship, etc.

Any other tips/help welcome. ☺☺

Thanks in advance.

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[NotAProgDirector]

1. Not really. 32 isn't that old for a resident in the US. Many students go to college from 18-21, then often take a year or a few to do research, another degree, etc. Then 4 years of medical school. That gets us to 27-28. So 32 isn't a problem. Plus when we look at applications, we screen birth date and age, so we can't tell how old you are. But there are other problems, see below.

2. It could help, or it could hurt. Some would say that because you already know what you're doing, it would be less work to train you. Others would say that perhaps you've learned bad habits / do things differently, and retraining you may be more work or impossible. Especially if you've been out practicing on your own -- it's hard to step back into "trainee mode".

3. Yes. You will get no credit for your prior training.

4. You would need to first take the USMLE exams -- Step 1, 2CK, and 2CS. You would need to do well on them, not just pass them. Then you would like to get some US experience, but you will find that doing so is almost impossible. If you're not a medical student, and don't have a medical license, you won't be able to provide care. Which means that usually, all you can do is observe -- which many programs don't consider adequate US experience. It's a circular problem -- it's difficult to get a training spot without US experience, you can't get US experience without a training license, and you can't get a training license without being in a training spot.

Bottom line is this: surgery training in this country is very competitive. If you trained in the UK, Germany, France, etc, then there is perhaps, some chance that you can get a spot in the US. If you trained elsewhere and don't have US connections, then you may never get a spot. Many programs use a cut off of 5 years from graduation to consider people for spots, and you'll be far from that. Could you get an FM spot? Perhaps -- again depending upon your scores and any US experience you can snag. But would you be happy with that?

 

[bannie22]

Hi all,
I'm a surgeon in my home country and plan to come to the US. I have obtained permanent status (permanent resident) so I don't need to apply for a visa. I completed my residency (outside US) directly after med school (outside US). I'm considering coming to the US, but the residency programs look extremely competitive. I have a few questions:
1. Will my age lessen my chances of getting into a program (I'm 32)?
2. Does the fact that I have already completed a residency in surgery make my application look better than others. Will that give me MUCH of an advantage over others??
3. Will I have to re-do an entire 5 year residency in surgery, or is there a way to "skip" some years.
4. What route do u recommend I take. In what order should/must I do things, in terms of residency, observership, fellowship, internship, externship, etc.

Any other tips/help welcome. ☺☺

Thanks in advance.

1) Minimal disadvantage
2) Minimal advantage
3) Discuss with program and ACGME

 

[Winged Scapula]

In recent years, the American Board of Surgery (ABS) has given advanced standing to foreign trained surgeons. The catch is that you have to be in a US residency program and THEN apply to skip a couple of years; obviously with the approval and recommendation of your PD.

As noted above, your age is a non-issue.

Whether programs see your prior training as an advantage or disadvantage is uncertain, but many do find it difficult to re-train someone who's already trained (and may perhaps feel they know better).