Mashmetoo Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Hi everyone, I recently came across the story of a Canadian CMG, graduate of UBC who matched into a 3 year US Family medicine residency program (ACGME accredited). He graduated 2 years ago from said program. As far as I know, this CMG is a Canadian citizen, and does not have any kind of US ties (i.e., either US citizenship or permanent residence status). The program director gave him the visa and all that. My question is, as a Canadian medical graduate from a Canadian medical school (with no ties to the US), why would someone want to match into a US family medicine program as opposed to a Canadian FM program? As far as I know, US FM is 3 years, versus the Canadian 2 years. So right off the bat, a CMG will have to spent an extra year completing the FM residency in the US. If they wanted fellowship training, it would be 4 years in the US, vs 3 years in Canada. As far as I know, with a Canadian 2 year FM residency + 1 year of fellowship, and assuming you complete the relevant US FM board exams, a CMG can also practice family medicine in the US with their 3 years of Canadian residency + fellowship training. So I wanted to know if I'm missing something here. It seems to me that it's more advantageous to do one's FM + fellowship in Canada, then move to the US if they simply wanted to work in the US. Any thoughts? I know of this story because I'm doing an audition rotation in the same program now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Med0123 Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 family reasons? maybe he had a loved one south of the border in that same city? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mashmetoo Posted March 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Ok, lets assume there were no family reasons, no sweetheart waiting in the US for him. It just doesn't make any sense to me that someone would voluntarily do FM in the US vs Canada with all other variables being equal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Med0123 Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 I fully agree with you, FM has a good reputation over here, not in the US Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviathan Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 Maybe he applied for something competitive in Canada and used FM in the US as his backup. Where did he match? Maybe it was in a city he wanted to live in over BFN, Canada. There are some UBC grads in Seattle (at UW) for example. Also I disagree about the states having bad FM programs. There are some worse than others, but the ACGME does a good job at maintaining minimum standards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mashmetoo Posted April 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 Maybe he applied for something competitive in Canada and used FM in the US as his backup. Where did he match? Maybe it was in a city he wanted to live in over BFN, Canada. There are some UBC grads in Seattle (at UW) for example. Also I disagree about the states having bad FM programs. There are some worse than others, but the ACGME does a good job at maintaining minimum standards. mmhmm.. why didn't he just back up with Canadian FM? I just don't get why a CMG would do FM in the US for practical reasons. It's different if a Canadian was doing med school in the US and then matching FM in the US, as coming back to Canada can theoretically be an issue. He matched into a UC (University of California) Davis affiliated program in northern California. So definitely a strong program, and not a diploma mill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviathan Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 mmhmm.. why didn't he just back up with Canadian FM? I just don't get why a CMG would do FM in the US for practical reasons. It's different if a Canadian was doing med school in the US and then matching FM in the US, as coming back to Canada can theoretically be an issue. He matched into a UC (University of California) Davis affiliated program in northern California. So definitely a strong program, and not a diploma mill. There's a ton of people, many from UBC, who never want to leave the west coast and would rather spend 3 years in the western US than 2 years in some frozen tundra wasteland of Canada (kidding, sorta) . He may have applied for UBC family med and then backed up with FM programs in Cali, Oregon, Washington. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futureGP Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 There's a ton of people, many from UBC, who never want to leave the west coast and would rather spend 3 years in the western US than 2 years in some frozen tundra wasteland of Canada (kidding, sorta) . He may have applied for UBC family med and then backed up with FM programs in Cali, Oregon, Washington. rofl.... frozen tundra wasteland.... sigh...cuz its so true from october to april Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mashmetoo Posted June 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 How likely is it that Canada will move towards a three year model for family medicine residencies? Will this happen anytime soon? Did you hear any rumors from your program directors? Any updates? http://www.cfp.ca/content/58/9/1045 This article is from 2009, four years later, are you CMGs hearing any rattling from the front lines?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futureGP Posted June 10, 2013 Report Share Posted June 10, 2013 How likely is it that Canada will move towards a three year model for family medicine residencies? Will this happen anytime soon? Did you hear any rumors from your program directors? Any updates? http://www.cfp.ca/content/58/9/1045 This article is from 2009, four years later, are you CMGs hearing any rattling from the front lines?? Heard nothing so far. And i dont think itll become 3 years in the immediate timeframe that concerns us. I dont think there is even a group of people looking into the possibility, the topic just comes up once in a while and theres always someone who writes opposing to the increase to 3 years. So itll prob stay as 2 years for min next 5 years or so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploughboy Posted June 11, 2013 Report Share Posted June 11, 2013 How likely is it that Canada will move towards a three year model for family medicine residencies? Will this happen anytime soon? Did you hear any rumors from your program directors? Any updates? http://www.cfp.ca/content/58/9/1045 This article is from 2009, four years later, are you CMGs hearing any rattling from the front lines?? Please see brooksbane's "The CCFP sucks" thread for prior discussion of Dr. Buchman's article. http://premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71820 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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