Visiting US medical schools/hospitals as a foreign medical student

[nlmacbu]

I've got kind of a weird situation. My girlfriend is a final year medical student in a foreign medical school (not a US citizen. She's doing medicine in her own country). As part of the curriculum, their medical school offers a 3-week leave and necessary documentation for obtaining visa for the students who can/want to go abroad and do a little bit of observing on how medical schools or hospitals are operated. They will then need to compile an official report about their experience and there will be a panel interview type of thing as well. Me being a "potential" US medical student myself, I would like for her to come here, for obvious reasons. I just wasn't sure if that's something that's doable. Are there any regulations or restrictions against foreign medical students visiting US institutions? What type of permission would they require, (assuming this is doable)? What kind of opportunities are out there? And last but certainly not least, would there be any fees associated with it (when I say fees I mean ridiculous amounts of money)! I just need a place to start to see how to go about doing this.

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[PrettyLadyDoc24]

I've got kind of a weird situation. My girlfriend is a final year medical student in a foreign medical school (not a US citizen. She's doing medicine in her own country). As part of the curriculum, their medical school offers a 3-week leave and necessary documentation for obtaining visa for the students who can/want to go abroad and do a little bit of observing on how medical schools or hospitals are operated. They will then need to compile an official report about their experience and there will be a panel interview type of thing as well. Me being a "potential" US medical student myself, I would like for her to come here, for obvious reasons. I just wasn't sure if that's something that's doable. Are there any regulations or restrictions against foreign medical students visiting US institutions? What type of permission would they require, (assuming this is doable)? What kind of opportunities are out there? And last but certainly not least, would there be any fees associated with it (when I say fees I mean ridiculous amounts of money)! I just need a place to start to see how to go about doing this.

This depends on a few things. Is she looking to seek credit or complete an observership? I would assume with a 3-week block as opposed to a 4-week one that it would be an observership. She would also need to find out if the US institution allows for observerships/rotations. If they do, contact the coordinator to set that up. Her school will be able to complete the necessary documentation. Overall just make sure the hospital she wants to rotate at will accept foreign students in either observership positions or rotations, depending on what she is looking for.

 

[deleted763299]

So to summarize: you want your girlfriend to come to the US from a far-away land to do some physician shadowing, and you want to know what she would have to do to get that set up. Correct?

Overall, this depends a lot on the specific institution she would want to work at. The best way to get information would be to give the hospital or medical school a call and see if they allow this. My medical school does, but I don't know how common or uncommon this is. If all she will be doing is shadowing or observing, I doubt there will be any charges associated with this.

A few things come to my mind that she will probably have to deal with no matter what:

1. International travel related issues -- To cross international boarders, she will need a passport. Will she need a visa? I have no idea honestly. You can look up her home country on the US state department website (https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/visit.html) and figure that out.
2. Proof of identity -- whatever hospital she might want to work with will probably require her to prove her identity, since they'll probably need to issue her a badge. Her passport probably would be sufficient for this, but this will be at the discretion of the institution. If her documents need to be translated, that would create an extra bit of work.
3. Health related issues -- She will need documentation of her immunizations, or if they are not available she will most likely be required to have antibody titers (blood work) done to prove she has immunity. As an example, my medical school requires immunity (by vaccination records, or proof by antibody titer) to measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chicken pox), hepatitis B, polio, and tetanus. She will also need to have documentation of tuberculosis testing (the rules on this can vary a little as far as exactly what kind of testing or how recently).

 

[nlmacbu]

This depends on a few things. Is she looking to seek credit or complete an observership? I would assume with a 3-week block as opposed to a 4-week one that it would be an observership. She would also need to find out if the US institution allows for observerships/rotations. If they do, contact the coordinator to set that up. Her school will be able to complete the necessary documentation. Overall just make sure the hospital she wants to rotate at will accept foreign students in either observership positions or rotations, depending on what she is looking for.

She's not looking for credit. Just an observership, I assume. It's not even mandatory, it's just encouraged by her medical school so they would get some more clinical exposure in a different setting and obtain some ideas about how to improve their own practice from a more developed country. And thanks for your input! I didn't know this observership existed. From what I've looked into in the last 5 minutes, that seems to be a way in!

 

[PrettyLadyDoc24]

She's not looking for credit. Just an observership, I assume. It's not even mandatory, it's just encouraged by her medical school so they would get some more clinical exposure in a different setting and obtain some ideas about how to improve their own practice from a more developed country. And thanks for your input! I didn't know this observership existed. From what I've looked into in the last 5 minutes, that seems to be a way in!

You bet! You'd be surprised at the good things you can find out just be inquiring. As a resident I've done observerships with vacation time, mainly because my program does not allow for outside rotations. It's a great experience. I wish you and your girlfriend the best.

 

[nlmacbu]

So to summarize: you want your girlfriend to come to the US from a far-away land to do some physician shadowing, and you want to know what she would have to do to get that set up. Correct?

Overall, this depends a lot on the specific institution she would want to work at. The best way to get information would be to give the hospital or medical school a call and see if they allow this. My medical school does, but I don't know how common or uncommon this is. If all she will be doing is shadowing or observing, I doubt there will be any charges associated with this.

A few things come to my mind that she will probably have to deal with no matter what:

1. International travel related issues -- To cross international boarders, she will need a passport. Will she need a visa? I have no idea honestly. You can look up her home country on the US state department website (https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/visit.html) and figure that out.
2. Proof of identity -- whatever hospital she might want to work with will probably require her to prove her identity, since they'll probably need to issue her a badge. Her passport probably would be sufficient for this, but this will be at the discretion of the institution. If her documents need to be translated, that would create an extra bit of work.
3. Health related issues -- She will need documentation of her immunizations, or if they are not available she will most likely be required to have antibody titers (blood work) done to prove she has immunity. As an example, my medical school requires immunity (by vaccination records, or proof by antibody titer) to measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chicken pox), hepatitis B, polio, and tetanus. She will also need to have documentation of tuberculosis testing (the rules on this can vary a little as far as exactly what kind of testing or how recently).

Haha yes you pretty much got the gist of it. As far as travel related issues go, it's not a problem. She already has a passport, which she will need, and her medical school is willing to provide all necessary documentation for students to obtain necessary visa. Plus I'm also from there but I moved here a long time ago so I'm not really worried about that part. And thanks for the heads up about the ID. She probably will need some sort of verification for that from her medical school as well. And for immunizations, I'm pretty sure their medical school made them do all sorts of immunization and she probably can obtain copies of those, and she probably can get immunized for whatever ones she's missing. Thanks for the input! Should she try to go through a hospital or a medical school? Is one more likely to offer observerships than the other?

 

[nlmacbu]

She's not looking for credit. Just an observership, I assume. It's not even mandatory, it's just encouraged by her medical school so they would get some more clinical exposure in a different setting and obtain some ideas about how to improve their own practice from a more developed country. And thanks for your input! I didn't know this observership existed. From what I've looked into in the last 5 minutes, that seems to be a way in!

Thanks again. Oh and she's hoping to move here after graduating and take USMLE so she could start practicing here! So if I get this to work, that would be a great preview of what's coming in the future

 

[deleted763299]

Thanks for the input! Should she try to go through a hospital or a medical school? Is one more likely to offer observerships than the other?

No problem. I hate to sound like a broken record, but it looks like this depends a lot on the institution as well. I did a quick google search of observerships and I found these two (Thomas Jefferson, and Einstein). One requires the applicant to get in touch with individual clinical departments to set up observerships, while the other seems to have a centralized office for this. I'm assuming there is a geographic goal for where she would want to be, so searching for teaching hospitals in that area would probably be the best way to start. From there, I would probably contact the clinical department she would want to work with and see if they can help you go from there.

 

[nlmacbu]

No problem. I hate to sound like a broken record, but it looks like this depends a lot on the institution as well. I did a quick google search of observerships and I found these two (Thomas Jefferson, and Einstein). One requires the applicant to get in touch with individual clinical departments to set up observerships, while the other seems to have a centralized office for this. I'm assuming there is a geographic goal for where she would want to be, so searching for teaching hospitals in that area would probably be the best way to start. From there, I would probably contact the clinical department she would want to work with and see if they can help you go from there.

I will do that! I'm living in Illinois so I'm hoping to find something in-state. But I could travel, it's not a deal-breaker if I have to look in another states. I'm gonna start calling hospitals up and asking them if they have any programs of the sort. Hearing no is the worst that can happen, so it can't hurt to ask! Thanks!