CCM fellowship as a foreign graduate

[BritAnaesthesia]

Hi guys,

I’m UK trained and finishing Anesthesiology residency here. I want to do a critical care fellowship in the US but most seems to only want people who’ve done their residency in the US.

I know there is an exemption category within ACGME where a programme director can choose to take a candidate who’s foreign trained if they wish.

Anyone know if this happens much at all or are most programmes very strict in only taking US trained anaesthesiologists?

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[gro2001]

Hi guys,

I’m UK trained and finishing Anesthesiology residency here. I want to do a critical care fellowship in the US but most seems to only want people who’ve done their residency in the US.

I know there is an exemption category within ACGME where a programme director can choose to take a candidate who’s foreign trained if they wish.

Anyone know if this happens much at all or are most programmes very strict in only taking US trained anaesthesiologists?

It happens occasionally, but not very often. Most FMGs who do fellowship in the US are ones who've done residency in the US. However, I've seen it happen in a variety of fields, including CCM. I haven't personally encountered someone who did anesthesia residency overseas and then a CCM fellowship, but I don't think it would be particularly unlikely.

Bear in mind though that if your plan is to work in the US after fellowship, most states have a requirement for licensure to have done 3 PGY years in the US, and a CCM fellowship will get you 1-2, so you would need to either follow that up with a residency (doing things backwards like this is how some FMGs have made it in the US) or another additional fellowship (less annoying than going back to residency, but may sometimes limit job options down the line as some hospital credentialing committees insist on primary specialty boards).