back to Canada for practice question

[harrynthia]

I am a IMG now applying for US residency in IM and neurology. If I finished residency in US and I want to come back for practice, what hassles do I have to go through? Do I have to pass Canadian board exams in order to get licensed in Canada? Do I need to do extra fellowship on IM or neurology? Thanks a lot for your input.

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[copacetic]

most residency programs in canada are one year longer in the canada as compared to the states. except for family medicine which is one year shorter in canada as compared to the states. so lets say you wanna do internal anesthesiology in the states. that is 4 years there, so you would have to do either a clinical fellowship of some sort or do an extra year of residency to qualify to write the canadian board exams since anesthesiology is 5 years in canada. also, the specialty board associations have specific requirements for the intern year for exam X months of ob/gyn or X months of peds or something like that. in summary the main concerns are
1) make sure you have X months of certain rotations
2) make sure that your total amount of training in the states is equal to the total amount of training required in canada

once that is satisfied, you ca write the canadian boards, pass, get your billing number for your required province and start working.

 

[harrynthia]

thank you for your feedback, copacetic. I prefer to get a clinical fellowship in Canada after my residency training in US in order to sit for Canadian board exam. How tough to get such a fellowship in Canada? I mean in IM or Neurology.

 

[copacetic]

thank you for your feedback, copacetic. I prefer to get a clinical fellowship in Canada after my residency training in US in order to sit for Canadian board exam. How tough to get such a fellowship in Canada? I mean in IM or Neurology.

assuming you go to a LCME accredited school (practically every school in the USA and Canada is LCME accredited, then you have access to first round Carms spots in the canadian match). do a rotation if you can at the program you are interested, and you should be on equal footing with the canadian grads (especially if you are a canadian citizen already, or permanent resident). rigiht now i am currenlty working at the Toronto General and i was shocked at how many of the new residents were got their MD in the states. its definetly doable. my plan in fact is to go to an american school, and do my IM residency in Toronto, then do my Cards fellowship in Canada or america. stay copacetic!

 

[harrynthia]

Thank you for your answer, copacetic. I got my Ph.D in U of Toronto and I am very familiar with Toronto General. If after residency, I can get a fellowship from Toronto General, then there will be no second choice for me.
BTW, stick to your plan, it is a pretty good one. Wish you all the best.

 

[copacetic]

remember that in canada specialties are very much an old boys club. all the guys on the east coast know all the guys on the west coast (especially fi we're talking academics) simply because of the relatively small size of the medical community here in canada. that is why in canada getting residency spots is really about what sort of impression people ahve of you. reference letters from people count for something. so do a rotation, get your face around, and things will fall into place. and this coming from someone who is not an optimist. im actually very pessimistic and cynical but i've done my research on this on.

 

[MSHell]

remember that in canada specialties are very much an old boys club. all the guys on the east coast know all the guys on the west coast (especially fi we're talking academics) simply because of the relatively small size of the medical community here in canada. that is why in canada getting residency spots is really about what sort of impression people ahve of you. reference letters from people count for something. so do a rotation, get your face around, and things will fall into place. and this coming from someone who is not an optimist. im actually very pessimistic and cynical but i've done my research on this on.

QFT

I've heard the exact same thing.