Australia?

[traumachick]

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Hi All,

I'm a 4th yr GS resident currently thinking about a TS/CC fellowship vs. MIS. However, my husband has been offered a position by his job (non-medical) that would take us to either London, Melbourne, or Calgary....does anyone have any idea if there are fellowships in those places that a US trained resident would be competitive for? Would the fellowships "count" back home? Would it be possible to just go and work for a few yrs as a GS in those places?

This is just an idea we are throwing around, but in many ways would be a great opportunity and probably not one we would get again!

Thanks
N

 

[BlondeDocteur]

If no one else answers, I've personally known several residents and attendings who have sough out specialized fellowships overseas. The kicker is that these weren't boarded/CAQ-certified subspecialties but something more akin to the old apprenticeship model.

Examples include a PRS-trained person who didn't match into craniofacial in the US and went to Australia; PRS people who went to France to do a fellowship with Tessier; 2+ people who went to Hopital Necker-Enfants Malades in Paris for various hyperspecialized pediatric surgery stuff; liver transplant + HBP in Paris again; and one of the Columbia graduating chiefs this year who is doing robotics in Korea.

This doens't include the many, many, many people I've bumped into who went to Canada (especially to Sick Kids).

As far as equivalency and board certification for trauma/CC, my gut feeling is that unless you're in Canada (where training is recognized as equivalent) you won't be board-eligible here.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Blonde Docteur is correct about many people going to Australia to do fellowships (especially microsurgery and some CF plastics) although a clarification is in order.

Trauma does not have a Board, so BC is not relevant here. CC does and many Trauma fellowships are actually a combined Trauma/CC fellowship which allows for BC in CC. However, training abroad is generally not accepted for American Board Certification. Employment back in the states generally would not require a trauma fellowship except at the biggest places.

There is only 1 trauma fellowship I am aware of in Australia and that is in Sydney. Melbourne just doesn't see enough trauma; the cities are far apart so you and your husband would be separated. You'd have to look into the fellowships but frankly having lived there, I'd wonder if you'd really get enough *real* trauma to justify doing extra training when you really won't stack up against those who have done trauma here in the US. Remember, many people come FROM Australia to do Trauma fellowships here.

The process of working other there, having trained here, is a bit tricky. I'd suggest you read relevant threads in the International Forum and be aware of the hoops you'd have to jump through and whether or not you could even find a position in the larger cities (you wanna work in Alice Springs or other rural centre? That is possibly doable. Sydney and Melbourne? MUCH more difficult especially as a non-citizen, trained abroad with less training than their own home grown surgeons.) There are loads of threads in the Aussie forum about how to work there, I'd suggest checking them out.

 

[Treg]

Not sure if Calgary has enough trauma as well...but I would consider an ICU fellowship. In Canada, they are very vigorous, research-oriented and cover two years. The U of C one is here: http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/postgrad/programs/critical

I just looked through their website, and they have surg onc, vascular, thoracics, and peds. They also have endocrine. Some of these may or may not be accredited--your best bet would be to look through the official accreditation body websites to figure that stuff out.

Good luck!