Focus Group

International Medical Graduates

August 22, 2009

Offices of African & American Friendship Association

For Cooperation & Development

Attending:

• Said Al-Tavel, Jordan, Permanent Resident, failed to find match in first attempt
• Natalia Dorland, Russia, Permanent Resident, seeking residency, husband is US citizen, software developer, they moved to the US assuming life would be easier here.
• Mimi Oo, Burma, Citizen, passed Steps 1, 2. In US since 1986, worked for UN as an examining physician, passed USMLE in 1998, paused to care for autistic son. Finds barrier is that she has been out of medical school for more than five years.
• Nicole Pardo, Colombia, Visa, Step 1, 2. Followed husband on work-related transfer. In US since 2002.
• Yasser Chebli, Lebanon, Citizen, passed Steps 1, 2 CS. Won immigration lottery.
• Adil Ahmed, Sudan, Asylee, failed to find match in first attempt. Eight years out of medical school, in US for three years, works in critical care research at Mayo.
• Fathi Sheik Adan, Somalia, Asylee, passed Steps 1, 2, 3, seeking residency. In US since 2005, finished exams in 2007, applied to 40-50 residency programs, got two interviews but no match.
• Oxana Haflund, Russia, Citizen, passed Step 1, 2, practiced six years in Russia, in US since 1997.
• Abdifateh Mohamed, Somalia, Asylee, passed Steps 1, 2 CK

Themes:

• If you completed medical school more than five years before applying for residency, you seem to be eliminated from consideration.
• The match process is the most difficult part of the process, “because it does not depend on you. It depends on other people.” (Natalia)
• Residency administrators overlook the special skills of people who arrive here from other countries. For instance, Karen refugees arrive here with diseases of the tropics. Immigrant doctors who have practiced in the tropics are familiar with those diseases. “It takes a long time to get those illnesses diagnosed here.” (Mimi)
• Assumption that program directors are focused on making their programs highly ranked, and that IMGs are seen as more likely to lower a program’s ranking. “You think they care about IMGs like us? Ha! Unless it’s someone who really cares about the community, we’re insignificant.” (Yassar) “If they had a bad experience with one IMG, they decide they only want US graduates. After one failure they decide that they must over-protect themselves.
• The most important step toward finding a residency is “making a connection and knowing someone. The key is to find someone who will open his heart and allow an observership, and will they write a letter of recommendation.” (Fathi)
• Discussion of means to benefit both IMGs and medically underserved parts of the state. Could would-be residents exchange a promise to serve in an underserved area of Minnesota for a set number of years for a residency slot? “I am married, I have four kids, I am almost 40, I’ll take anything.” (Yassar)
• “Many things in the US are very clear, the rules are very clear. But this (getting a residency) is not at all clear. Instead of taking all this time to pass the exams, I could have gone back to college and been trained to do something else. If I talk about this it is very painful.” (Abdifateh) “You spend thousands and thousands of dollars and the time passes, until you are so far from medical school that you can’t get a position anyway.” (Oxana)