Foreign Doctors Struggle to Find a Place in the US A New York Times article details the challenges that foreign medical practitioners experience when they attempt to practice in the US. The US requires foreign practitioners to complete additional testing and training that is often seen as a laborious and duplicative barrier to working. While the US is experiencing a shortage in healthcare providers, the claim is that the strict measures ensure that foreign professionals reach the country’s high quality standards. Other concerns exist, including a foreign “brain drain” if it were simple to move to and practice in the US. Foreign healthcare providers attribute the US’ high healthcare costs in part to these restrictive requirements. In response to the Affordable Care Act, a law that will be fully implemented in 2014 expanding medical services to all Americans, Nyapati Raghu Rao, the Indian-born chairman of psychiatry at Nassau University Medical Center and a past chairman of the American Medical Association’s international medical graduates governing council, commented, “It is doubtful that the US can respond to the massive shortages without the participation of international medical graduates. But we’re basically ignoring them in this discussion and I don’t know why that is.” While the precise number of immigrant doctors in the US who are not practicing is unavailable, the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates provides some insight. The private nonprofit organization clears around 8,000 immigrant doctors to apply for the national residency match system. Of those, only 3,000 are successfully matches to a residency position, and many are forced to work outside of their desired fields. This is compared to a 93.9 percent match rate for seniors at mainstream American medical schools. To read the full article, go to: nytimes/2013/08/12/business/economy/long-slog-for-foreign-doctors-to-practice-in-us.html?adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1376575303-iO1Wp0mUNdoi3KAqGA3oMg.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 08:40:58 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015