Hello-- my husband’s niece graduated from a foreign medical school specializing in anesthesiology and she completed her residency in that foreign country last year. Now, she wants to come back to the U.S. to work in the medical field. What does she need to do? What organization should she contact and will she need to re-do her residency here? TIA!
Move to Tennessee? I’m only half-joking.
2 Likes
The US requires all foreign-trained physicians to redo their residency training at a US hospital.
So even if she is already trained as an anesthesiologist, she is expected to apply for and complete another 4 year long anesthesiology residency in the US in order to get a US medical license.
In order to apply for a US medical residency, she needs to
-
register with ECFMG and get approved
-
take and pass USMLE STEPs 1 and 2 (Taking and passing STEP 3 may make her a more attractive residency candidate)
-
In October --assuming she passed her STEP exams-- submit her application for residency to the NRMP Match program.
-
Interview and submit a rank list to the NRMP in January, then wait for Match results in March.
-
IF they do not Match, they can enter SOAP and hope to scramble into any unfilled residency positions even if it’s not in their preferred specialty.
-
Upon completion residency, they can sit for their specialty board exam to become a board certified specialist. They can also apply for unrestricted medical licenses in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
~~
Tennessee and Florida have passed bills that allow foreign-educated physicians to skip residency of they meet certain conditions.
(The details vary, but basically they have to have completed a specialty residency “equivalent” to a US residency, have worked for at least 3 of the last 4 years as an attending physician in their specialty in another country, and have job offer in hand at a site within the state at a hospital or other medical facility that offers a residency in their specialty.)
This alternate pathway grants the physician a provisional license for 2 years. During that time they will work “under supervision” (basically at the same level as a resident). At the end of the 2 years they will be granted an unrestricted state medical license that is ONLY valid in that one state. The license is NOT transferrable to any other state.
Please contact the medical licensing commission in Tennessee or Florida for details.
Since this alternative pathway is new (the law only passed last week!), FL does not yet have a way to apply for the alternative pathway licensing. TN’s law pass late last year and its process for handling application for alternative pathway licensing still hasn’t been finalized.
The alternate licensing process will NOT grant them board certification in their specialty. The lack of board certification will likely make it impossible for them to get medical malpractice insurance.
(Which is fine if their employer self-insures for malpractice which some large healthcare systems do.)
3 Likes
Thank you for the info!!
Or Florida.
1 Like