Guest EJL Posted September 20, 2004 Report Share Posted September 20, 2004 As mentioned in a few previous posts, I want to write my USMLEs in the event that I might do a residency in the U.S. Does anyone know how difficult it would be if I wanted to come back to Canada and practice medicine after doing a residency in the U.S.? Thanks, EJL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CaesarCornelius Posted September 20, 2004 Report Share Posted September 20, 2004 I think it depends on which program you are talking about and which school you do it at. Some of the schools have different program lengths and some of those do not fit the canadian requirements. CC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 Doing the USMLEs isn't just useful for residency in the US. . . Nowadays, if you want to work in an academic centre, many/most specialists end up doing a fellowship (one or two or more years of training post residency.) Many of the best fellowships are in the US, or well at least, most of the UWO profs I know did their fellowships in the US. So even if you did your residency in Canada, you might need those USMLE scores anyways - depending on if you want to do a fellowship, and where you wanted to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lactic Folly Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 Roughly what proportion of fellowships in the US require one to have written the USMLE? Although I don't wish to do my residency or practice in the US, I can't rule out the possibility of a fellowship.. am having some difficulty finding info on this (though I suppose it would help if I had an idea of what specialty/fellowship)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest marbledust Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 I have known a few insane people who have written the USMLE just for "fun" - they have no intention of ever training or working in the US but felt the studying and preparation time involved was useful. I am sure there is a lot of merit in that, but I wouldn't do it :smokin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moo Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 I think all fellowships require the USMLEs, but I could be mistaken. The reason is that by the time you apply for fellowships all of your US colleagues will have taken all three steps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Yeah, unfortunately I've found there's very little official information available out there about fellowships, particularly at the preclerkship stage of training. Most of the stuff I know is based on word of mouth from working with residents and consultants, and their conversations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Hi there, Given that many US schools seem to like to see Step 1 scores for undergraduate clerkships, it wouldn't be at all surprising that they'd demand Steps 1 through 3 for a fellowship. Additionally, to address the initial post, I've heard a number of Canadian surgeons in large, Canadian academic centres recommend a trip to the US for a 1-2 year fellowship (6 months as a minimum, noted one) to secure a job in a busy centre here. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EJL Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 I was actually under the impression that you don't really have to write any step of the USMLE if you want to go to the US for a fellowship. Am I wrong to assume that a fellowship is defined as the period after you finish your residency (i.e. internal medicine and the time commitment for your sub-specialty) in which you undertake a clinical research project at an academic institution where you did not do your residency training? EJL p.s. maybe the semantics are getting a bit out of hand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 There's been a number of past threads regarding this, and I'd encourage you to look lower down in this forum, as well as in the CaRMS forum, for information regarding Canadians doing either their residency or fellowship in the US. The complicating factor is that some US residencies are not recognized in Canada (in the same vein that some Canadian residencies do not make you eligible for US board certification). In order to practice medicine in Canada, you need to have passed your specialty board exam (this is either done through the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada for all specialties except Family Medicine, who go through the College of Family Physicians of Canada). In the US, there's an American Board for each specialty, and each of these boards has a specialty board exam (ie. American Board of Internal Medicine, American Board of Otolaryngology, American Board of Ophthalmology, etc). If you pass that board exam, you are considered board certified. The issue is that some US residency training is shorter in the US than in Canada. For example, General Internal Medicine is a 3 year residency in the US, but is a 4 year residency in Canada. Doing the 3 year residency in the US, as a result, doesn't qualify you to write the Royal College exam in Internal Medicine, and therefore you can't immediately practice in Canada (I assume that you need an additional year of training, but am unsure of how to go about getting that). Therefore, it's entirely impossible to say for certain whether a US residency is going to allow you to practice in Canada. These requirements also change over time (recently, the American Board of Otolaryngology changed their eligibility requirements such that graduates of Canadian Otolaryngology residencies are now unable to sit for the US board exam. Therefore, they can't get board certified, and I would assume this can pose a very significant impediment to either practising in the US, or obtaining fellowships in the US. The most you can really do is contact the Royal College and ask them specifically how they would approach your situation. You would need to know which specialty you are considering, as some US residencies are recognized in Canada. Regarding fellowships, this is additional training above and beyond residency, usually in a niche area within that residency. For example, Internal Medicine residency graduates can do fellowships in areas like Cardiology, Nephrology, Respirology, etc. Radiology residency graduates can do fellowships in Interventional Radiology, Neuroradiology, Pediatric Radiology, etc. General Surgery residency graduates can do fellowships in areas like Trauma surgery, Vascular surgery, Transplant surgery, etc. The reason that having written the USMLE Steps 1-3 is useful, is that it allows you to obtain a state license, and also opens you up to getting an H1B visa (if you are a Canadian citizen, then you need a visa in order to do residency/fellowship in the US), and the H1B visa is superior to the J1 visa because it allows you to moonlight and stay in the US after your training concludes. The J1 visa requires that you return to your home country for 2 years before you can apply to return to the US on a different visa. Many US states recognize the LMCC set of exams, which are Canada's equivalent to the USMLE series of exams. Still, not all of the states recognize our LMCC's, but all 50 states obviously accept the USMLE's. As a result, I think it's an extremely good idea to write all three steps of the USMLE. At this early a stage in your medical career, it never hurts to keep all of your options open, because even if you have no intention of ever working in the US, you might someday want to gain additional training down there. If you are considering applying to the US for residencies, make sure that you study hard for the USMLE Step 1. It would not be a good idea to take it aiming to just barely pass, because while that suffices for state licensure, a sub-par USMLE Step 1 score definitely will NOT aid your chances of matching, particularly if you're applying to a competitive residency. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted August 7, 2005 Report Share Posted August 7, 2005 Floating back to the top. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted June 29, 2006 Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 Floating to the top... Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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