US Residencies

[Guest DHP62]

Hi all,

 

I understand that it is very difficult to return to Canada after attending medical school in the US (although this seems to be changing slowly). What about doing medical school in Canada and then residency in the US...how difficult is it to come back to Canada? What are the rules surrounding this?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

DHP

[Guest Ian Wong]

I understand that it is very difficult to return to Canada after attending medical school in the US

I don't know that the above statement is actually correct. Both Canadian and US med schools are accredited by the LCME, which is an organization which assures that all US and Canadian allopathic schools meet standard goals within the curriculum. It is therefore my understanding that a US MD is recognized just like a Canadian MD in either country. It is for this reason that graduates from medical schools which are not accredited by the LCME (ie. schools in Australia, Ireland, the Caribbean, etc), need to write the ECFMG certification to prove their competancy before applying for US residencies (and probably in some part is also why those same individuals have such a hard time getting residencies in Canada).

 

As far as attending a Canadian medical school and then a US residency, you need to check if the US training will make you eligible to write the Canadian Royal College board exam in that specialty. The Royal College publishes specific criteria for each specialty, and if you don't meet those criteria, then you can't write the board exam, and therefore can't practise in Canada. There are several US residencies that are not recognized in full in Canada. For example, Anesthesiology and Ophthalmology are 4 year residencies in the US, but are 5 years in Canada. US Emerg medicine is 3 years, but is 5 in Canada. General Internal Medicine is 3 years in the US, but 4 years in Canada. In each of these specialties, you run the risk of not being allows to write the Royal College exams until you've put in that extra time, and the trouble then is finding a Canadian residency program who'd be willing to go through the paperwork and funding issues to give you that extra year.

 

Ian