Doctors with foreign medical degrees-what do you think?

by JulieN » Apr 10, 2013

What is so offensive about it? I didn't say, so easy, a caveman could do it.

I'm related to a handful of physicians. my BF is in med school, he also comes from a medical family. in our social circle, physician is by far the most popular profession.

 

by icekid » Apr 10, 2013

I am certainly not saying you were not told this, but rather how would she even know this? Believe me, medical schools are not in the practice of sending out letters that say "we cannot accept you because you got a B once." No school has strict gpa cutoffs; applications are judged upon more than simply gpa.

 

by wildcat03 » Apr 10, 2013

Actually it was pretty rude. I'll remember your statement and laugh when it's 11 PM on Friday, the ER is blowing up with 3 traumas, a code, and 30 patients in the waiting room. In reality, I probably won't remember it because for the 10 hours I'm there I won't even have time to pee, much less think about anything other than my patients.

Just because your boyfriend is in med school and his family is in medicine doesn't mean you know what it's like. Residency training is, by far, the most challenging part of physician training. Just remember how easy you said it was when he's a second year resident and you've seen him once in the last 3 days because he's worked 45 of the last 60 hours.

As for the original question - I'd happily see a physician educated in another country. Some of the teaching hospitals I've rotated through have had a lot of foreign-born and educated physicians and they were good doctors. I would probably not go see a grad from one of the "offshore" Carribbean grad. I have my own opinions on those schools, but will refrain from going on about them because I do not want to disrespect colleagues who have faced many challenges in completing medical training.

 

by asscherisme » Apr 11, 2013

I have a family member who could not get into a us medical school but got into a foreign one (in the 80's). He graduated and now practices in the US. He still took the medical boards in the US but I have to admit it made me a bit leary to personally use a us born Dr. who choose a foreign medical school. Makes me wonder why.

 

by MakingTheGrade » Apr 12, 2013

Just to clarify my previous anecdote regarding "choosing the wrong major", it wasn't that schools only accept certain majors lol, it's more that my friend chose a very competitive and difficult engineering major at a tier 1 academic college despite the fact that he had little interest in that major. He chose it due to family pressure to pick the prestigious program and because he was told "that's how you get into medical school". But it resulted in him struggling since he never cared for the subject matter, and by the time he realized he should have majored in neuroscience which is what he loved and enjoyed, his gpa already took a substantial hit and he was so close to done that he just sucked it up and finished it out. But I have no doubt that had he majored in what he enjoyed from the beginning, his grades would have been spectacular and he would have gotten into a US med school. His case is probably unique, but just an illustration of the different reasons an american goes to foreign med schools, and why I personally place more weight on residency.

I think my biggest concern as someone who has worked with foreign educated docs is the cultural disconnect that can sometimes be present. Not always relevant, but can be disconcerting if you have a doctor who isn't tuned into the subtle signs and signals of your upbringing. You may feel they don't understand you as well as a patient, hard science aside, and so you may not feel as comfortable. I know this happens with immigrants who get seen by american docs, so I imagine the reverse would also be true. Also, depending on the specialty in question, where you train will also affect how exposed you are to certain disease processes. For example, if you're african american with sickle cell, a doc trained in China (where my family is from) may not be as familiar first hand with sickle cell since it's rarely seen in asians and there just isn't a large african american population in China.

 

by MakingTheGrade » Apr 12, 2013

Just for fun, this spoof was made by one of the Penn Med classes (I went to Penn, we're a bit of a silly bunch sometimes). It's funny, and really just shows that who your doc is as a person is probably as important as where he graduated, lol. I think the patients that get the best primary care are ones who find a doc who they really feel are their advocates and who care and connect with them. The best fit for you might not be the best for your neighbor or friend. I specify primary care because if you unfortunately have a rare and obscure disease, then academic pedigree will probably matter a lot more. You always hear in med school "your patient is a person, not a pathology", well, as your docs, we're people too, and not just a collection of diplomas!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCJjUssCZx4