This is very very important....Your career in USA depends upon this....Vote YES in this CNN POLL....POLL asking for :
"Should doctors who graduate from foreign medical schools be licensed to practice in the United States? ""
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/

Sad commentary that the a majority of the American population (>60%) feel that IMGs should not be licensed in the USA. How many of those that voted against licensure for IMGs realize that nearly 23% (roughly 1/4) of the licensed and practicing physician population in the US are IMGs?

Some sobering facts from the AMA website:
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/211.html

IMGs in the U.S.

This page contains a profile of the IMG population and significant dates in U.S. immigration policy affecting IMGs.

A Profile of the Internationl Medical Graduate Population

* In 2002, out of 874,589 physicians, 198,703 IMGs received medical degrees from 127 different countries, accounting for 22.7% of the total physician count.
* IMGs make up approximately 23% of the U.S. physician population and 24% of resident physicians.

* The heaviest concentration of IMGs is in New Jersey (40.3% of doctors); and New York (40.2%); and Illinois (33.7%); and Florida (33.1%).

* Almost half of all IMGs (48%) train in primary care specialties vs. 33% of U.S. graduates.

* The largest national group is from India (19.2% of total).

* Of the 154,576 total IMG population, 130,741 (85%) are in patient care, 7.635 (5%) are in medical teaching, administration or research, and the remainder are not classified, are inactive, or have an unknown address.

* Of the 22,230 IMGs who are in residency training or are clinical fellows, more than 4,000 are American citizens, 8,200 are immigrants and are permanent residents, and 8,900 are in the U.S. on an exchange visitor visa and plan to return to their country of origin unless the INS grants them a waiver because they are needed to provide care to the American public. Therefore, some 55% of all IMGs in graduate medical education programs are U.S. citizens or lawful immigrants.

* The total physician population increased by 350,386 between 1970 and 1994 or 104.9% while IMGs accounted for over one-fourth (27.8%) of this increase by gaining 97,359 physicians.

* In this 24-year period, non-IMGs grew by 91.4% while IMGs increased by 170.2%.

* In 1980, IMGs accounted for 20.9% of the total physician count of 467,679 while that percent climbed to 22.6% of the total count of 684,414 physicians in 1994.

Significant dates in U.S. Immigration Policy affecting IMGs

* 1933-1948 - European IMGs immigrate as refugees in relatively small numbers.

* 1948 - Exchange visitor program lets IMGs train in U.S. Many stay.

* 1956 - AMA and others create IMG-certification system; the ECFMG.

* 1965 - Easily obtainable visas in some specialties attract Third World IMGs.

* 1971 - IMGs get quicker job clearances for permanent residency status.

* 1976 - Congress raises immigration barriers against IMGs.

* 1980 - Federal study recommends IMG limits.

* 1985 - Federal legislation proposed to cut off GME funding for IMGs. Fails.

* 1990s - Steep rise in incoming IMGs attributed to breakup of Soviet Union, changes in licensing exam and new immigration laws.

Aloha,

__________________
Pathology
PGY-1.75

I hope one little very unscientific poll from the news media has no bearing on my future career.

__________________
4th Year Medical Student
St. George's University
All postings carry this disclaimer.

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maybe dobbs should cut out his anti foreign this and that rhetoric and he will get a few more viewers

__________________
Dr. Scott
Internal Medicine
PGY-1

AUC Forum Moderator

It seems there is a lot of educating to be done. I wonder where Lou Dobbs came up with such a poll?

Best of Luck!

I saw earlier this morning(3-4am) the CNN headline news segment on foreign medical schools. It was mainly about Dr. Nabut(UAG grad) who didn't have a bachelors degree and was practicing medicine. (we all know that's not a big deal but they sort of blew it out of porportion) Lets just say he messed up quite a few times and didn't have malpractice insurance.

Click here for his story...
http://www.courant.com/news/health/h...ty-news-health

They did interview California's Board of licensing(I think)--> Ms. Hadnot about how they approve schools etc and also listed 7 other states where approval was necessary(you should all be able to list these by now...). I can't seem to find the story on CNN.com but oh well.

The segment was negative but it could have been much worse...

__________________
Finally beat Super Mario Bros within 7 mins.

Unfortunately a majority of Americans are stupid idiots and im sure most of the people who participated in that survey are uninformed, rightwing morons. regardless, 45% of the US (125 million people) would appreciate our services and welcome us with open arms.

-T-

i dont think many right wingers watch cnn, let alone lou dobbs

__________________
Dr. Scott
Internal Medicine
PGY-1

AUC Forum Moderator

[quote="Toddaa1"]the truth is most of you would agree probably if you were not imgs. must keep it in perspective. educate. make standards uniform for imgs. dont whinge.

__________________
Steph
If you get a warning, put on yer manpants and stop whining about it.

[/quote]the truth is most of you would agree probably if you were not imgs. must keep it in perspective. educate. make standards uniform for imgs. dont whinge.[/quote]

well said.