Fellowship Without Residency

[tammy01]

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Hi,
I am IMG am ECFMG certified, cleared step 1, 2 and 3.
Did 3 years of ophthalmology residency non ACGME slots, in other words I am NOT board eligible. I am eligile for unrestricted license in NY,KT,CA,TX (sure) and maybe other states (not sure)
I haven't done ophthalmology residency from my home country.

Questionss?????
1. Can I do a clinical fellowship?
2. If I do clinical fellowship, will I be able to practice ophthalmolgy in US
without being BE/BC
3. If yes what kinds of ophthalmology jobs I am looking at????????
4. Do I have to do residency and be BE, which I have not been able to do so far.

it is important decision for me whether I will be able to continue in this country as an ophthalmologist or should I chose another field.
I left out most important information.....I have a green card, visa is not an issue to find a fellowship.

 

[orbitsurgMD]

Hi,
I am IMG am ECFMG certified, cleared step 1, 2 and 3.
Did 3 years of ophthalmology residency non ACGME slots, in other words I am NOT board eligible. I am eligile for unrestricted license in NY,KT,CA,TX (sure) and maybe other states (not sure)
I haven't done ophthalmology residency from my home country.

Questionss?????
1. Can I do a clinical fellowship?
2. If I do clinical fellowship, will I be able to practice ophthalmolgy in US
without being BE/BC
3. If yes what kinds of ophthalmology jobs I am looking at????????
4. Do I have to do residency and be BE, which I have not been able to do so far.

it is important decision for me whether I will be able to continue in this country as an ophthalmologist or should I chose another field.
I left out most important information.....I have a green card, visa is not an issue to find a fellowship.

1. Maybe.
2. Doubtful.
3. Very few if any.
4. Yes and yes.
(5.) Immigration status not relevant to 1-4, above.

You will have difficulty practicing as an ophthalmologist in the USA in at least three ways. First, not having officially completed your ophthalmology residency, you cannot be regarded as board-eligible. Most hospitals and surgery centers require this status as a minimum qualification for staff admission, and further require that you become board-certified as a condition of your remaining on staff and retaining active staff privileges. The signature of the program director who has supervised your residency training and certifies that you have fulfilled the residency training requirements of that specialty is what places you in board-eligible status. Second, most malpractice insurance carriers will want to know your board certification (and re-certification) status and will accept you for liability coverage only if you are board-eligible. Third, most insurance carriers will allow you on their panels of providers only if you are board certified or board-eligible within two years of having completed residency.

Ophthalmology fellowships are informal and in most cases not governed by the ACGME or the ABO. Pediatrics fellowships are probably the exception, and plastics fellowships to a considerably lesser degree have partial oversight through the ASOPRS, which has no board-certifying authority. You might be accepted for a research fellowship, but not having formally completed a residency would not be especially competitive for a clinical fellowship. Even if you do a fellowship, that won't solve your board-eligibility problem.

 

[orbitsurgMD]

Hi,
I am IMG am ECFMG certified, cleared step 1, 2 and 3.
Did 3 years of ophthalmology residency non ACGME slots, in other words I am NOT board eligible. I am eligile for unrestricted license in NY,KT,CA,TX (sure) and maybe other states (not sure)
I haven't done ophthalmology residency from my home country.

Questionss?????
1. Can I do a clinical fellowship?
2. If I do clinical fellowship, will I be able to practice ophthalmolgy in US
without being BE/BC
3. If yes what kinds of ophthalmology jobs I am looking at????????
4. Do I have to do residency and be BE, which I have not been able to do so far.

it is important decision for me whether I will be able to continue in this country as an ophthalmologist or should I chose another field.
I left out most important information.....I have a green card, visa is not an issue to find a fellowship.

1. Maybe.
2. Doubtful.
3. Very few if any.
4. Yes and yes.
(5.) Immigration status not relevant to 1-4, above.

You will have difficulty practicing as an ophthalmologist in the USA in at least three ways. First, not having officially completed your ophthalmology residency, you cannot be regarded as board-eligible. Most hospitals and surgery centers require this status as a minimum qualification for staff admission, and further require that you become board-certified as a condition of your remaining on staff and retaining active staff privileges. The signature of the program director who has supervised your residency training and certifies that you have fulfilled the residency training requirements of that specialty is what places you in board-eligible status. Second, most malpractice insurance carriers will want to know your board certification (and re-certification) status and will accept you for liability coverage only if you are board-eligible. Third, most insurance carriers will allow you on their panels of providers only if you are board certified or board-eligible within two years of having completed residency.

Ophthalmology fellowships are informal and in most cases not governed by the ACGME or the ABO. Pediatrics fellowships are probably the exception, and plastics fellowships to a considerably lesser degree have partial oversight through the ASOPRS, which has no board-certifying authority. You might be accepted for a research fellowship, but not having formally completed a residency would not be especially competitive for a clinical fellowship. Even if you do a fellowship, that won't solve your board-eligibility problem.

If you want to become board-eligible, you will have to do an approved residency in official status. That would likely also mean a whole residency. (I have heard of only one particular individual having been allowed credit for past overseas practice experience combined with a pre-residency fellowship and one year of formal residency training who got BE with less than a full three-year residency.)

 

[tammy01]

thank you orbitsurgMD for your reply......most of which I am unaware of. It seems like it is not a good idea to pursue fellowship then.
I understand it will be impossible in an academic setting university based programs how about private practice groups???????????

 

[Krony]

I don't know how it is for ophthalmology, but I know that in the internal medicine department within the Veterans Affairs hospital where I spend a lot of my prelim medicine year some of the attendings did not have a medical license. Maybe this would be an option?

 

[BigPizza]

Sorry for bringing this up. But how can you do a residency without being ACGME accredited? How do you do an ophthalmology residency with a non ACGME slot?

Hi,
I am IMG am ECFMG certified, cleared step 1, 2 and 3.
Did 3 years of ophthalmology residency non ACGME slots, in other words I am NOT board eligible. I am eligile for unrestricted license in NY,KT,CA,TX (sure) and maybe other states (not sure)
I haven't done ophthalmology residency from my home country.

Questionss?????
1. Can I do a clinical fellowship?
2. If I do clinical fellowship, will I be able to practice ophthalmolgy in US
without being BE/BC
3. If yes what kinds of ophthalmology jobs I am looking at????????
4. Do I have to do residency and be BE, which I have not been able to do so far.

it is important decision for me whether I will be able to continue in this country as an ophthalmologist or should I chose another field.
I left out most important information.....I have a green card, visa is not an issue to find a fellowship.

 

[Mirror Form]

I don't know how it is for ophthalmology, but I know that in the internal medicine department within the Veterans Affairs hospital where I spend a lot of my prelim medicine year some of the attendings did not have a medical license. Maybe this would be an option?

Seriously? I find that hard to believe.

 

[guttata]

Re: VA system - I believe you need any state medical license. Once you have a license, you can practice in any state (so any VA system in the country). That
being said, I would think it would be nearly impossible to get on staff without
completing a U.S. ophthalmology residency.


If you are having a tough time with the residency match, it may be beneficial to do
a fellowship to foster connections and mentors.

 

[guttata]

The same situation would apply for private practices.

 

[Shnurek]

Or you can join Optometry 🙂 We have a strabismus surgeon from India that entered at year 3 out of 4 in our school. He is a 4th year now and about to graduate with a Doctor of Optometry degree. If you don't care about doing surgery then maybe doing 2 years at an optometry school would be a good idea.