2 questions? Residency continuation in Canada and getting back into residency

[DRZIVAR]

A question about doing residency in Canada or other ways to get residency. I am a IMG who has been out of residency for a while and has only one year of FP credited to me. I was wondering if I can continue my training in Canada and come back to USA and practice or is it more competitive there. If anyone knows the guidelines will you please forward it to me. Also is this true that if you have exhausted your 3 years of residency (as I have done 2.5 years and only got credit for one year) it is difficult for you to go on and find another residency. The reason that was explained to me is that the program will not be funded for me therefore they will not take me in as a resident for the last 2 years. Anyone with answers or expertise greatly appreciated.

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[newdude2009]

A question about doing residency in Canada or other ways to get residency. I am a IMG who has been out of residency for a while and has only one year of FP credited to me. I was wondering if I can continue my training in Canada and come back to USA and practice or is it more competitive there. If anyone knows the guidelines will you please forward it to me. Also is this true that if you have exhausted your 3 years of residency (as I have done 2.5 years and only got credit for one year) it is difficult for you to go on and find another residency. The reason that was explained to me is that the program will not be funded for me therefore they will not take me in as a resident for the last 2 years. Anyone with answers or expertise greatly appreciated.

I think it will be pretty difficult to finish residency in Canada and then come back to the states to practice. You would still be considered a FMG and you would have to reapply for residency. If you plan on finishing in Canada why not stay in Canada and practice in Canada.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I think it will be pretty difficult to finish residency in Canada and then come back to the states to practice. You would still be considered a FMG and you would have to reapply for residency. If you plan on finishing in Canada why not stay in Canada and practice in Canada.

I don't believe this is true. Canadian and US training are considered equivalent for most situations.

The ABIM states this:

To be admitted to the Certification Examination in Internal Medicine, physicians must have satisfactorily completed, by August 31st of the year of examination, 36 calendar months, including vacation time, of graduate medical education accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, or the Professional Corporation of Physicians of Quebec.

...so clearly, to them, Canadian training is fine. And you could theoretically mix US and Canadian training.

The OP's bigger problem is that they completed 2.5 years of work but only got 1 year of credit. Not getting credit for 1.5 years is a huge red flag. Yes, there are funding issues, but the biggest problem is going to be getting a program to "take a risk on you" given this big problem. Canadian programs tend to be more competitive than US programs, plus you must be a canadian citizen or PR to work in most programs, as Canada doesn't have an open visa process for IMG's

 

[MD forever]

I will be pleased to see Program Director suggest solutions for "troubled residents" more than elaborate on how hard career path ahead.

 

[islandCrazy]

I don't believe this is true. Canadian and US training are considered equivalent for most situations.

The ABIM states this:


...so clearly, to them, Canadian training is fine. And you could theoretically mix US and Canadian training.

Can someone further clarify this as I was told by the CO of CARMS that if you start in America you must finish in America. For instance if you do a Transitional year in the US, you are not eligible to apply for CARMS. I can't find this in any document (probably not looking in the right place).

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

I will be pleased to see Program Director suggest solutions for "troubled residents" more than elaborate on how hard career path ahead.

Well that's essentially the topic of this thread. You can find what you want in basically every other thread on this subforum.

 

[Giemsa]

Can someone further clarify this as I was told by the CO of CARMS that if you start in America you must finish in America. For instance if you do a Transitional year in the US, you are not eligible to apply for CARMS. I can't find this in any document (probably not looking in the right place).

The CaRMS website indicates that applicants to CaRMS (who must be Canadian citizens / PR, by the way) who have previous post-graduate training are restricted in most provinces* to the second-round match only (aka the dregs).

http://carms.ca/eng/r1_eligibility_prov_e.shtml

Your CaRMS contact may have said that a transitional year in the US would make you ineligible for first-round CaRMS in most cases. Note that this may be tantamount to not matching at all since there are few second round spots left over as a rule and a hell of a lot more applicants competing for them. And if you did manage to match, I'm betting you'd have to start over as a PGY-1 again.

So theoretically it's possible to mix US and Canadian training, but not likely. And why would you bother? It'd still be so much easier to match to something in the US after your transitional year than anything in Canada.

http://carms.ca/pdfs/2011R1_MatchResults/49_Summary of Match Results_en-2nd Iteration.pdf

*In the reminder, you are entirely ineligible.

 

[islandCrazy]

Thanks Giemsa, for the information that helped a lot.