<p>I will admit that my uninformed bias is to prefer a US-trained MD, but I am trying to find a specialist for one of my kids (gastroenterologist) and in our area, I would say from my intial searches, that about half of the docs have their medical degrees from other countries, especially Pakistan and India. They have US residencies/further training.</p>
<p>So what yould you do? Disregard the foreign education, or try to stick with a US-educated doc?</p>
<p>I suspect there’s a greater range of variance in the education foreign docs get than the ones in the US. Being in the medical industry, but not in the clinical side, I do get to hear a lot of compliments and complaints about docs in general, and I haven’t noticed any marked trend along these lines. This could be because there isn’t any systemic differences in their ability or it could be that the people are only able to evaluate a physician by their demeanor and such characteristics rather than their true capabilities in medicine. Having said this, I’ve generally relied on individual docs’ reputations rather than their credentials.</p>
<p>IMGs (International Medical Graduates) are required to take and pass the same medical licensing exams as all US medical grads. IMGs are required to complete an identical residency and pass the same board exams as US trained physicians.</p>
<p>I would disregard the foreign education adn instead look more at their reputations and recommendations from patients/parents of patients.</p>
<p>Our family practice Dr has her medical degree from India. Her residency was at a very competitive local university. I had the impression that for a foreign born dr, it would be more rigorous to open a practice than it would have been if she grew up in Dallas.
I am happy with her.</p>
<p>When I’m looking for a new doctor, I always look up the credentials online. </p>
<p>Where did they do their medical education and training?</p>
<p>Are they board certified in their specialty?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t go to anyone who is not board certified and I would not go to anyone who went to a questionable medical school, i. e. a Caribbean or Mexican school for Americans who couldn’t get into an American medical school.</p>
<p>Once I’ve seen a doctor, if I cannot communicate with him/her effectively, I don’t go again. So I have a bias against doctors who don’t speak English clearly.</p>
<p>It would never cross my mind to not go to a doctor just because they weren’t trained in the US or to go to one just because they are. Many countries have excellent medical training plus they have to pass all the tests and certifications to be able to practice here. </p>
<p>FWIW, I’ve lived in many different countries. I’ve experienced both excellent doctors and lousy doctors in other countries. But I’ve experienced both excellent and lousy doctors in the US as well. (in fact my very worst medical experience was in the US when a radiologist said my daughter’s ankle injury was a severe sprain - I was dubious because it was flat on one side and a grapefruit on the other and took her to a specialist - not only was her ankle broken in 3 places but a piece of bone was broken off and had twisted and was sticking into the joint. She had to have surgery to rebreak her ankle and had to have pins, plus had check ups for 2 years because the delay in getting the surgery - should have been done the same day - led to concerns about the growth plate. The same hospital told me my wrist was broken a couple of years later. Didn’t believe them that time either and went to the same specialist who told me the problems I was having was related to my arthritis and there was no sign of a fracture. Both docs involved were trained in the US - one is excellent, the other is useless in my opinion)</p>
<p>I would, if possible, pick a doctor by the practice. I mean specifically I trust that my doctor runs a very good practice and thus hires good people. If the doctor works there, I will see him or her.</p>
<p>One of my specialist docs is from the Czech Republic and my wife’s internist is from Italy. I’ve got no problem whatever with foreign docs from places that have advanced, western-style medical education. I am a bit more suspicious of ones trained in third-world countries where the training may be less advanced and/or less consistent.</p>
<p>And in most cases, a doc’s skill will be based more on where they did their residency and other post-grad training than on where they went to medical school.</p>
<p>Re: a doc’s skill will be based more on where they did their residency and other post-grad training than on where they went to medical school.</p>
<p>Although I agree with you, but isn’t it more likely that, statistically speaking, it is more difficult for IMGs to land on a “better” residency position?</p>
<p>Just think of this: We have lived in many parts of the country so our family have seen many doctors in the past. Since DS’s childhood, all but one of my kid’s family/pediatric doctors were IMGs. But they are family doctors, not specialists. It appears to me that, in large cites (where we have lived in the past), it becomes more and more difficult to find a family doctor who was not IMG, especially when the family doctor is not that old.</p>
<p>OP, I would find out where the doctor was for his/her residency training. (But some difficulty remains: even if you have found this, do you really know whether the residency program is a good one? I have a suspicion (but not sure about it) that while all (or at least almost all) of 126 med schools in US are good, the quality of residency programs could be more varied. (I read some horror stories about some terrible treatment of residents in some residency programs in US on the SDN website occasionally, but did not read similar stories about med schools in US.)</p>
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<p>Yes, and it’s becoming more difficult as the 15 new US medical schools come online and start producing graduates. Add into that the upcoming merger of MD and DO residency matches and IMGs are the big losers.</p>
<p>If you want the numbers of IMGs placing into various residencies, the AAMC has the 2011 results here:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nrmp.org/data/resultsbystate2012.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nrmp.org/data/resultsbystate2012.pdf</a></p>
<p>We generally ask for recommendations from our primary docs and others who have experience in choosing our specialists. So far, most of them are educated in the US & trained here, but have seen an excellent allergist who was educated in India and training at National Jewish–he was wonderful and worked well with our kids. Recommendations from healthcare professionals and other satisfied patients trumps all for us.</p>
<p>They have to have a US residency and pass the board exam. I am okay with them as long as they have good references. I mean, let’s face it, there are some very mediocre US educated doctors.<br>
What do they call the guy who graduated last in his med school class?</p>
<p>Doctor.</p>
<p>I look for the best doctor I can find regardless of country of origin. The best neurosurgeon around here for my condition is Korean and difficult to understand, but he is too good to pass up for the language barrier. He has 3 American PA’s who can explain things/answer questions!</p>
<p>" Once I’ve seen a doctor, if I cannot communicate with him/her effectively, I don’t go again. So I have a bias against doctors who don’t speak English clearly. " </p>
<p>This is key for me. When I lived in NYC, I had no choice but to go to the pediatrician assigned to me and English wasn’t her first language. Besides the fact that she couldn’t communicate effectively , I just didn’t like her at all. She was terrible and in looking back , gave horrible advice to me as a new mother.
Having been stuck with her, it changed the way I sought out doctors .</p>
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<p>In today’s world it makes a world of difference where you finish in your class with respect to your options for residency - the field and the school.</p>
<p>“Bottom of the class”, uh, not for me - when I ‘interviewed’ the OB who was going to handle my twin pregnancy, I looked at all the certificates on his wall and saw that he was a member of the medical school honors society, AOE, IIRC. </p>
<p>It’s also important to determine where the doc has admitting privileges. You want a doc affiliated with a top hospital if you have a specialized problem or a high-risk pregnancy, as I did.</p>
<p>My husband always says if the physician graduated from a good medical school in his own country, that’s usually a good thing. If they graduated from a school foreign to them, including Americans going to foreign medical schools, then you may question why. An Italian physician graduating at the top of his class in a good Italian medical school, say, compared to an American physician graduating from a not so good foreign medical school and placing in the second half. It’s not just foreign vs American. I always say ask the nurses who they would go to, they have a great perspective.</p>
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<p>Could this mean that finding a good primary care physician, or any primary care physician, is more difficult as a result, due to the primary care specialties being relatively low paid, and thus low on the list of desired specialties by new MD graduates carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical school student loan debt?</p>