Canadian IMG, US Anesthesia trained, wants to do ICU in Canada - how?!

[labhras]

Canadian IMG, did school in Europe. PGY3 applying for Critical Care training in USA. My question is, can I work in Canada as an Intensivist after completing fellowship in USA, or will I have to do extra training? Wondering if it is worth doing CC fellowship here if I can't even do CC in Canada!

General Canadian question: to do Critical Care in Canada (from IM, EM, Anes etc) do you have to do the 2 year Critical Care residency, or can you become boarded by doing fellowships offered by different hospitals? Can't find tonnes of information out there. Wondering what the best options are. Anyone in the same boat?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Suture15]

I am not sure about CC specifically, but if you read my thread on the front page regarding the process for a Canadian IMG to return (atleast to Ontario), a lot of the same will apply to you. You should also check how long CC is in Canada vs. the USA, as the equivalency may be in question.

Broadly however, you can either do Pathway 4, which is after all your training in USA, you have to write the licensing exam for the field (CC in your case), and then practice under supervision for 12-18 months, after which you MAY be granted an unrestricted license. The caveat to this is (and still confusing to me, as I have heard conflicting information), is that if you are equivalent in training (for e.g. 4 years of IM), you can get an unrestricted license.

From my understanding if you write the MCQEE 1 and 2 (equivalent of steps), you can get an unrestricted license.

Of note, this is ALL for Ontario. Every province is different.

 

[ZoeSoulstar]

Canadian IMG, did school in Europe. PGY3 applying for Critical Care training in USA. My question is, can I work in Canada as an Intensivist after completing fellowship in USA, or will I have to do extra training? Wondering if it is worth doing CC fellowship here if I can't even do CC in Canada!

General Canadian question: to do Critical Care in Canada (from IM, EM, Anes etc) do you have to do the 2 year Critical Care residency, or can you become boarded by doing fellowships offered by different hospitals? Can't find tonnes of information out there. Wondering what the best options are. Anyone in the same boat?

I think the overall answer to your question here is: yes, you can practice CCM in Canada if you train in the US but you must complete 2 years of CCM training. Canada will not accept 1 year CCM training. Besides that I believe many (if not all) of the USA CCM programs are moving towards getting rid of the 1 year training. Now being eligible for a position and actually finding a position (particularly one that you want to take) are two different things, but you'll at least be eligible to sit for the Royal College exam for CCM upon completion of training. There are a lot of province specific requirements and hoops to jump through as well, so I would get to figuring out which steps you need to take to get your training reviewed and certified by the provincial college(s) of your choice - this process can take 6 months or more (my process took ~7 months from start to finish, and I was very aggressive because I was on a timeline, but my story may not be yours) and costs buckets of money.

 

[Medstart108]

Finding a position in Critical Care will be very challenging in Canada. It is one of the IM subspecialties where Canadian trained physicians aren't able to find jobs these days. Just a warning, I wouldn't put too much hope in finding a job in Canada, but if you are open, then yes, do it in the states. I'm sure you will be able to find a job in the US afterwards at the very least.