Hi everyone,
I'm a 3rd year med student in Canada, born and raised in Canada. My fiance is Canadian, and is currently a 1st year med student in the US.
Initially we were thinking she would finish medical school and come back to Canada - likely the path of least resistance when it comes to our future. For a few months I've been thinking "why don't i look into medicine in the US? I like the US as a country, it's not that far from home, healthcare has problems in both the US and Canada - no escaping that, etc. etc."
Now I'm at a point where I feel pursuing a long term goal of practicing family medicine in the US is what I want to do. I see myself having a private practice +/- hospitalist work. I like the idea of getting into sports medicine, pain medicine, emerg, or whatever I want at the time. You can do this in Canada but I get the impression the opportunities are greater in the US. As far as family vs. internal goes, I figure if I ever want to come back to Canada I shouldn't do internal since here you can't set up a private practice as a general internist the same way as in the US.
So of course, the questions/worry/generalized anxiety kicks in. I'll start with a couple basic ones and move from there. I really just want peoples opinions, so let me know what you think.
1. I need to do a US family medicine residency. I know this considered non-competetive, as it is in Canada, but what am I looking at in terms of requirements and restrictions?
- Will I need to write the USMLE?
- Do I need to start looking at setting up some, if not alot of, US electives?
- What path did you take through medical school to get your FM residency of choice? (not-canadian specific, just generally what does it take to be a family doc in the US)
2. Does this sound like a right move?
- In your opinion, with the current economic climate (not like Canada is unscathed either) and the debatable outlook on primary care in the US, is now a good time?
- I'm very very interested in practice management and I enjoy operating in the business world. While my home base is always medicine and the best care for patients, I feel like in the US I'll be more fulfilled if I can eventually start a practice from the ground up. Do you see a future in this or will reimbursement change to the point where it's not economically feasible to be a doc/entrepeneur? (ie. will i end up being hired and under someone elses control because it's the only way to pay the bills?)
3. Any suggestions as to where else I can get some more help?
-do you think I would be able to contact someone in the US, some administrator/dean, to get some help? I'm in Windsor, ON this year for my clinical rotations - across the river from Detroit. Think I could contact someone and drive over to meet them?
-other routes to go?
Thanks so much guys, I know this is alot. I didn't want to post this on some other forum because it seems everyone else is all about these competetive specialties and whatnot. and from what I've read, being Canadian and applying for a plastics residency is very different that being Canadian and applying for family medicine.
I just want to be happy, like everyone else, and FM makes me happy. and so does America. That, unfortunately, is all I really know at this point haha..
Thanks in advance for the help,
DBcanada
I'm a 3rd year med student in Canada, born and raised in Canada. My fiance is Canadian, and is currently a 1st year med student in the US.
Initially we were thinking she would finish medical school and come back to Canada - likely the path of least resistance when it comes to our future. For a few months I've been thinking "why don't i look into medicine in the US? I like the US as a country, it's not that far from home, healthcare has problems in both the US and Canada - no escaping that, etc. etc."
Now I'm at a point where I feel pursuing a long term goal of practicing family medicine in the US is what I want to do. I see myself having a private practice +/- hospitalist work. I like the idea of getting into sports medicine, pain medicine, emerg, or whatever I want at the time. You can do this in Canada but I get the impression the opportunities are greater in the US. As far as family vs. internal goes, I figure if I ever want to come back to Canada I shouldn't do internal since here you can't set up a private practice as a general internist the same way as in the US.
So of course, the questions/worry/generalized anxiety kicks in. I'll start with a couple basic ones and move from there. I really just want peoples opinions, so let me know what you think.
1. I need to do a US family medicine residency. I know this considered non-competetive, as it is in Canada, but what am I looking at in terms of requirements and restrictions?
- Will I need to write the USMLE?
- Do I need to start looking at setting up some, if not alot of, US electives?
- What path did you take through medical school to get your FM residency of choice? (not-canadian specific, just generally what does it take to be a family doc in the US)
2. Does this sound like a right move?
- In your opinion, with the current economic climate (not like Canada is unscathed either) and the debatable outlook on primary care in the US, is now a good time?
- I'm very very interested in practice management and I enjoy operating in the business world. While my home base is always medicine and the best care for patients, I feel like in the US I'll be more fulfilled if I can eventually start a practice from the ground up. Do you see a future in this or will reimbursement change to the point where it's not economically feasible to be a doc/entrepeneur? (ie. will i end up being hired and under someone elses control because it's the only way to pay the bills?)
3. Any suggestions as to where else I can get some more help?
-do you think I would be able to contact someone in the US, some administrator/dean, to get some help? I'm in Windsor, ON this year for my clinical rotations - across the river from Detroit. Think I could contact someone and drive over to meet them?
-other routes to go?
Thanks so much guys, I know this is alot. I didn't want to post this on some other forum because it seems everyone else is all about these competetive specialties and whatnot. and from what I've read, being Canadian and applying for a plastics residency is very different that being Canadian and applying for family medicine.
I just want to be happy, like everyone else, and FM makes me happy. and so does America. That, unfortunately, is all I really know at this point haha..
Thanks in advance for the help,
DBcanada