Interview with FSMB

[azskeptic]

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/site/free/prsa0508.htm

AMNews: What are the federation and medical boards doing to make sure international medical graduates are qualified and are from reputable schools abroad? Why is this more of an issue now?
Dr. Txxxxxx: The state medical boards rely to a large extent on certification from the [Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates]. That provides a great service to licensing authorities that in large part don't have the resources or wherewithal to investigate all of the international medical schools. The ECFMG does several things, one of which is maintain a list of accepted international medical schools. To get on this list, a medical school has to have been recognized by its minister of health or the equivalent in that country.
What has prompted the recent questions is the emergence of offshore medical schools that have attracted a number of U.S. citizens, and there have been some serious questions raised about the quality of the educational programs in those offshore schools. California and New York currently have programs in place to assess international medical schools. California does so for the purpose of licensure, and New York does so for the purpose of clinical training. A number of states are relying upon these assessments to make judgments about the quality of the educational product of international medical schools. We had a special committee on undergraduate medical education looking at how state medical boards might get more information about international medical schools. One of the recommendations called for the federation to develop a clearinghouse along with other organizations such as the ECFMG that would help serve as a source of information to the state boards. (Note: That measure has passed, and an implementation process is being developed.)

[wcb22]

azskeptic,

do you think they will be following any of the recommendations of CAAM/CARICOM?

or in other words, do you see CAAM having a legitimate presence in the eyes of the medical boards in the near future?

[azskeptic]

azskeptic,

do you think they will be following any of the recommendations of CAAM/CARICOM?

or in other words, do you see CAAM having a legitimate presence in the eyes of the medical boards in the near future? I believe caam is going to be a powerful group. It may be that only caam approved schools will be recognized.

[wcb22]

i assume with the exception of schools not in the CAAM/CARICOM group, but are still in the caribbean (i.e., dominica --> ROSS). all schools whose countries are included in the group, if disqualified, are in bad shape.

[azskeptic]

i assume with the exception of schools not in the CAAM/CARICOM group, but are still in the caribbean (i.e., dominica --> ROSS). all schools whose countries are included in the group, if disqualified, are in bad shape. basically caam is using LCME standards,using LCME staff from Canada, and evaluating schools. So far they have done UWI, will be doing SGU and University of Guyana in near future. Schools in Caam areas that don't do accreditation will appear to be second rate is my guess. They have been warmly received by ECFMG so far.

[Dr.Azimi]

LCME is not even anything close to ACGME, LCME just proves the Intership year of these schools.

PS: My doctor was educated in a shack in afaganistan during taliban years. LCME approved the shack, so LCME is basically nobody

[azskeptic]

LCME is not even anything close to ACGME, LCME just proves the Intership year of these schools.

PS: My doctor was educated in a shack in ahomosexualanistan during taliban years. LCME approved the shack, so LCME is basically nobody

review the two

http://www.lcme.org/

http://www.acgme.org/acWebsite/home/home.asp

Completely different functions.

[MD04]

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/site/free/prsa0508.htm

AMNews: What are the federation and medical boards doing to make sure international medical graduates are qualified and are from reputable schools abroad? Why is this more of an issue now?
Dr. Txxxxxx: The state medical boards rely to a large extent on certification from the [Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates]. That provides a great service to licensing authorities that in large part don't have the resources or wherewithal to investigate all of the international medical schools. The ECFMG does several things, one of which is maintain a list of accepted international medical schools. To get on this list, a medical school has to have been recognized by its minister of health or the equivalent in that country.
What has prompted the recent questions is the emergence of offshore medical schools that have attracted a number of U.S. citizens, and there have been some serious questions raised about the quality of the educational programs in those offshore schools. California and New York currently have programs in place to assess international medical schools. California does so for the purpose of licensure, and New York does so for the purpose of clinical training. A number of states are relying upon these assessments to make judgments about the quality of the educational product of international medical schools. We had a special committee on undergraduate medical education looking at how state medical boards might get more information about international medical schools. One of the recommendations called for the federation to develop a clearinghouse along with other organizations such as the ECFMG that would help serve as a source of information to the state boards. (Note: That measure has passed, and an implementation process is being developed.)

Irresponsible organization. good example is what happen to St.Chris med sch's medical students. Nothing wrong with opening new medical schools but they should not put their students in the dangerous postion.
the Ecfmg is granting permission to run the several medical schools without eveluating their clinical , teaching and hospital affiliations.
ECFMG is giving high hope to lot of students b/c all the offshore medical schs use ecfmg as the fishing tool.

I hope ECFMG is become responsible org.