Can someone please help me ????

[simply_me]

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I am a canadian citizen and recently graduated high school. If I decide to do medicine from a UK medical school (which takes 5 years instead of 8 years in Canada), would I be able to practice in Canada?? If not, what are the procedures that I have to go through to practice here ??


PLEASE DO REPLY ASAP.
Thanks.

 

[pattycanuck]

I see from the vast majority of your posts they focus on the same question in different forums (UK & Ireland, Carribean, Europe, India) - can I get back into Canada after high school. In a one word answer - yes. It is possible to practice in Canada. The procedures are pretty much too long and comprehensive to elaborate (again and again) here on this website and it would probably profit you more (than getting a short oneliner as there are so many facets of coming back home) to use the search function at least in the India and UK/Ireland forums as you can matriculate into these programs directly from "high school" or their local equivalent. If not, check out the premed forum that has been referenced to here many a time.

Good luck!

 

[med2UCC]

Although the procedures can be a little complicated, it is possible to get back in to Canada, and also possible to get back into the US, both without too much trouble. Things have changed a little since you did it, PattyCanuck. You write your MCCEE in 5th year (to get back into Canada0 and also the TOEFL if you think you need it (most places don't make you do it if you did your primary degree in an English speaking country at an English speaking university, and if you do med school in English it is usually no problem) and then apply to the limited positions available on the 1st round of the Canadian match. Most have some sort of return of service attached to them. Some provinces eliminate the return of service for 2nd round matches while others keep it. Either way, you can apply for a wide variety of specialties in almost every province, with a heavy bias towards family medicine (no surprise there). I don't know the US system as well since I am not bothering with that, but you write Step 1 of the USMLe after 3rd year (in a 5 year program) and step 2 and the clinical step 2 after 4th year. Some people elect to spend an intern year in Ireland after graduation, but many don't bother. Hope this helps. Cheers,
M
I'll let you all know how the match works out for me in March of 2008!

 

[Zuckman]

Hey med2uCC,
I'm a premed student but from what I've read about, there are very few options for students that have done their med abroad and want to come back to Canada. One is mostly limited to family practise as the other residency spots are very competitive and mostly reserved for Canadian Med graduates. I thought that even to get an FP as an IMG would be difficult since few are left over and the number of IMG's applying for each spot is enormous.

This is all from what I've read on the internet but maybe things have changed. If anyone knows better, please post.

Also, does anyone know if the CaRMs match has improved recently to favour IMG's...I've heard that it has?

Zuck

 

[BBBH]

Hey med2uCC,
I'm a premed student but from what I've read about, there are very few options for students that have done their med abroad and want to come back to Canada. One is mostly limited to family practise as the other residency spots are very competitive and mostly reserved for Canadian Med graduates. I thought that even to get an FP as an IMG would be difficult since few are left over and the number of IMG's applying for each spot is enormous.

This is all from what I've read on the internet but maybe things have changed. If anyone knows better, please post.

Also, does anyone know if the CaRMs match has improved recently to favour IMG's...I've heard that it has?

Zuck

I have heard that Canada is slowly opening up to International grads, infact my friend's classmate from RCSI just recently got a residency position at McGill. I have heard from many doctors that as the current doctors get older and retire their will be a huge shortage of doctors in canada and other parts of the world. I might be too optimistic, but i think it will be easier for foreign grads in 5 plus years, well atleast i hope so since that is the time i will be looking to come back to Canada. 😀

 

[Zuckman]

BBBH,
What type of residency did he get?

Zuck

 

[BBBH]

BBBH,
What type of residency did he get?

Zuck

That is a good question, i will ask. I do know that my friend got into internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic.

 

[eg77]

I actually have been looking into this and I called the Carms number in Ontario. The process has changed quite a bit over the last 2 years. Now FMG can apply in the first round of residency matching. However, there a re fewer spots available to FMG than to Cnd graduates. Also there are some residencies that don't have any opening for FMG. For example, Derm and Radiology and a couple of others. There are lots of Family practice. Also a fair # of Anesth and Internal, and a considerable # of Surgery. Those are the 4 that I remember looking into. But of course, things can change to the better or worse over the next 5 yrs. 🙂

 

[Arb]

Radiology is available as far as I know. Things will most likely get better.

 

[med2UCC]

Indeed they will. This past year Nova Scotia didn't have a residency spot in general surgery for IMG's, but in the upcoming year there will be at least one opening up. I think the Canadian system has little choice but to open up to us, considering the critical shortages in many parts of the country in all fields. It's coming to a pretty state of affairs indeed when you can't even get in to see a regular GP in Toronto but have to rely on walk-in clinics instead.
Things are loosening up. Everyone always moans about how difficult it is to get back into Canada after training, so here's a question for all of you:
How easy was it to get into medical school?
We specialize in doing difficult things, in finding a way in. That's why we're in medical school. It's a lot harder to become a doctor in Canada if you don't train somewhere! Just my thought for the day,
M
who is having a fabulous time doing her Family Medicine elective in Nova Scotia

Radiology is available as far as I know. Things will most likely get better.

 

[Sage880]

Hey med2uCC,
I'm a premed student but from what I've read about, there are very few options for students that have done their med abroad and want to come back to Canada. One is mostly limited to family practise as the other residency spots are very competitive and mostly reserved for Canadian Med graduates. I thought that even to get an FP as an IMG would be difficult since few are left over and the number of IMG's applying for each spot is enormous.

This is all from what I've read on the internet but maybe things have changed. If anyone knows better, please post.

Also, does anyone know if the CaRMs match has improved recently to favour IMG's...I've heard that it has?

Zuck

One of my family members is a politician and had a meeting with someone in charge of policy at CaRMs. It was interesting to hear what they had to say.

They said they created the parallel match to encourage program directors to take more foreign students. They said before, foreigners were being passed over for barely passing Canadian medical students and the system was biased. They had hoped that this would make more oppertunities for us FMG's coming home.

He also said that the country they were most dissapointed with this year was Ireland.... It wasn't the performanace of the graduates - marks and test scores were fine. But the lack of preperation for the matching interviews. Most of the applicants had never done an elective at a Canadian hospital and had no LOR's from Canadian doctors.

He talked about emergency medicine as an example. In the first round in Ontario, every spot for Canadian grads was filled. For the parallel match their were 6 spots open. They only filled 2 of them because there wasn't any qualified applicants for the job.

Anyway, his take home message was coming back to Canada is actually easy enough and there are jobs waiting for you. But if you don't do electives in Canada and try to become familiar with the Canadian system, don't bother applying because you will not get a job. Was interesting to hear his ideas on it.

They are also thinking of hiring a full time coach who will travel back and forth to Ireland and the UK to talk to medical students and try to help them prepare to come back home. They will give advice and help students arrange electives and stuff like that. I was suprised to hear that of all the countries, Irish students were so poorly prepared in those aspects especially when he said we were near the top in terms of board scores and other things like that.

 

[med2UCC]

He also said that the country they were most dissapointed with this year was Ireland.... It wasn't the performanace of the graduates - marks and test scores were fine. But the lack of preperation for the matching interviews. Most of the applicants had never done an elective at a Canadian hospital and had no LOR's from Canadian doctors.


I didn't realise that that was part of the problem, but it makes sense, since many of the Irish grads would have preferentially done American electives because the perception is that it is easier to get a residency spot in the US. It is very easy to get good electives in Canada, and Dalhousie will take Irish students after 3rd year if you approach them properly (tell them you are going into 4th year, not coming out of 3rd - that seems to make a difference somehow). Even if you do observerships, it all counts. Sign up to either the MDU or the MPS and then you have insurance coverage for whatever you do as a med student, then get stuck in and get some experience in Canada. And despite some venting that we all do from time to time on this forum, the education you get in Ireland is good, and you are well prepared for working in Canada. I just finished 4th year, and yesterday I spent a day in ER being treated like a 1st year resident, and coped just fine. Suturing a real wound is a relaxing as suturing a plastic block, once the first suture goes in.
Anyway, must get back to my neurology reading. For a family med elective, this is being rather random - neurosurgery on Monday(my family are laughing- -I drop things. I keep telling them I'm not expected to actually perform the surgery, and they're still laughing) and Paeds on Friday. Cheers,
M