Weaker doctors?

[Dude-MD]

Are those of us graduating from medical schools abroad, in europe and the carribean, weaker in terms of skills and ability? compared to our home graduated counterparts.

[thesurgeon1]

honestly..im a good carib student...and from attendings ive talked to ...generally... european/australian grads are just as good or better...while carib grads in general are unfortunately.... at the bottom....just weaker in general.... thats in general.

[UMHS]

The answer to the question depends, in large part, on the school that the student attended. Research (2006, 1997) indicates that American students who attend foreign medical schools have a 50-57% pass rate on the USMLE. On the other hand, St. George's and Ross have, at varying times, reported pass rates of 90% and 89.2% respectively. It is rumored that some Caribbean schools have pass rates as low as 30% but since these are only rumours, I'll refrain from listing the schools.

I suspect that others will tell you that much also depends on the student, but I think that I will leave that for student comment.

[AUCMD2006]

depends on the student. i've rotated at hospitals ranging from small community that have exclusive img students from auc, ross, sgu. one with st chris students and some university hoispitals with full us med students and some with a mix from auc,sgu,ross.

i was also an intern at a major teaching site for auc, ross, used to be sgu as well as wayne state, kmc, michigan state, and occasionally we got studs from poma. now i am a resident at a university hospital with no foreign students..none are allowed.

so what i have seen is that it largely depends on the students but there are general trends. US students tend to be more cut throat competitive, interpersonal skills are severly lacking in a significant portion but they overall are more well read. that said you as a carib student can read up and do what you need to do but those interpersonal skills can't be taught. so i am saying that their knowledge base seems a very small higher in some areas which i would expect because US students tend to be the top of the top brain pans.

as far as ability and skills it is highly student dependant but if you are asking ability to move thorugh different settingsl, see and intyeract with pts, and get along professionally with peers i would say carib students from auc ross sgu (ones i've worked with) beat the domestic brand hands down...there is a certain humility that can't be tauight that comes along with the m any rejection letters from US schools, having to study by candlelight when the power is out, having to hide in ther dorms during a hurricane, having machete wieling locals chase you for food (sgu after hurricane..hehe), having to eat at the chicken shacks nothing but chicken prepaperd 200 different ways for 16 months but then driving an hour to KFC to find out they are out of chicken (Ross). skills during med school again depended on students with varying degrees of both.

for example, right now i have a 3rd year med student who i treat as an intern. she writes notes, sees the pts, tells me about them, and writes orders for me. i don't need to second guess her or double check her and feel comfortable gointg to the chief with my plan. i have another student
who is a senior and i wouln't trust them to put a band aid on an incision with two attendings supervising....on a side note they messed up one night so the rest of the night they wrote on a board "i will not remove staples without asking" bart simpson like for the remaining 8hrs of the shift.

i did have a run in with students from st chris though who overall where so far below par that they had me as a 3rd year on my second rotation supervising the 4th years. they were not allowed to write in a chart or see a pt without me or the students from lsu. the exception was this one guy who actually was really good, he got into sgu (i beleive him he was way smarter than me) but went to st chris thinking it was a brittish school. anyway maybe there is a significant difference in the other schools but as far as students i have taught from auc, ross, sgu, wayne, kmc, poma, msu there was none.

i have also worked with residents from saba, mua-nevis and there were quite competent.

[Aviv Imanuel]

Good post, very insightful from an insider!

[devildoc8404]

That's a truly terrific and insightful post from AUCMD2006. You can only make general assumptions about these kinds of things, and situations vary wildly according to the school and (most importantly) the student him/herself.

For my part... I study in Europe, and previously completed a year of medical school in the US (long story). Within my current class there are med students who compare very favorably with those I worked with in the States, and there are others who may graduate but there is NO WAY that they will ever pass the USMLEs, and I wouldn't let them near me in a white coat under any circumstances.

It's easier to reach your goals by getting in and completing medical school in the States. However, if that doesn't happen for whatever reason, if you have the ability you can make it through other avenues. Good luck!

(In addition, one of my sharper classmates did research last summer back in the States with MS3's from Chicago-area schools. He felt very comfortable working with them, and was far more skilled in clinical areas than most of them. Again, it totally depends on the student.)

[tenordoc]

I read an article recently that suggested that IMG's were more likely to be sanctioned by licensing bodies.

[eforest]

I'm at an American med school and some foreign students have been at various rotation sites. There isn't a huge difference.

[Aviv Imanuel]

Good question. You know who is good at that, moderator Azkeptic, send him a PM he may have something or not, check out with him.


I read an article recently that suggested that IMG's were more likely to be sanctioned by licensing bodies.