M.D Anesthesiologists path to USA

[curiousme23]

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Hi all,

I am currently a post graduate M.D. student of Anesthesiology at New Delhi, India.
I have a 5 year BS in Medicine and my current 3 year course completes in November 2012.
I am looking forward to a career as an anesthesiologist in USA. Can someone guide me on what path do I need take, what exams and certifications or residencies are required and how tough it is to get in.

As far as I have gathered from various sources on Internet I need to give USMLE(how many stages?), then I need to apply for board certification/license at ABA? Do I need to have a residency first to apply for board certification. If yes, do I still need to have residency if I am already a PG.

I am confused a bit as my information is from various sources over the Internet.
Can someone who has already gone through this process or has an expertise guide me through the overall process. I really want to pursue my career in USA due to some personal reasons.

I will be greatly thankful for all your responses.

Thanks,
Curiousme!

 

[DrBeaker]

Pass USMLE Step I, Step II CK and CS, Step III
Get ECFMG certified
Apply and match to an anesthesiology program here in the US through NRMP
Complete 4 years of residency
Pass written and oral boards from ABA

I don't think doing the training as you described allows you to bypass doing a residency here in the US. I could be wrong and others could chime in. Long road ahead...

As far as toughness, it's getting tougher, especially for foreign medical grads. Search the forum for threads covering that stuff. Look up the Outcome of the Match stats from NRMP.

 

[rsgillmd]

Hi all,

I am currently a post graduate M.D. student of Anesthesiology at New Delhi, India.
I have a 5 year BS in Medicine and my current 3 year course completes in November 2012.
I am looking forward to a career as an anesthesiologist in USA. Can someone guide me on what path do I need take, what exams and certifications or residencies are required and how tough it is to get in.

As far as I have gathered from various sources on Internet I need to give USMLE(how many stages?), then I need to apply for board certification/license at ABA? Do I need to have a residency first to apply for board certification. If yes, do I still need to have residency if I am already a PG.

I am confused a bit as my information is from various sources over the Internet.
Can someone who has already gone through this process or has an expertise guide me through the overall process. I really want to pursue my career in USA due to some personal reasons.

I will be greatly thankful for all your responses.

Thanks,
Curiousme!

The path is pretty clear: it's as DrBeaker posted. The ABA started some alternate pathway, but it really isn't any shorter. You can look up the details of that at http://www.theaba.org.

Where are you at? AIIMS? I'm just curious. If you're smart enough to get into AIIMS, you'll probably do fine on the USMLEs.

You can certainly take Step I and Step II CK in India. The tests are on a computer.

I don't know about Step II CS -- not sure if they have any centers outside the U.S.A. I don't think they do, but I could be wrong.

Which brings me to the other/bigger problem: You either need a green card or you'll need a visa. I'm not sure if it's possible to get an educational visa without having a residency spot and having the program sponsor you. That may be something an immigration lawyer or someone else who has gone through the process may be able to help you with.

It's not easy, but it can be done.

 

[doctor712]

OP:

my very dear friend down here, and his wife actually, came to the US
From India in your shoes. With MBBS degrees from India. They both
Secured (non paying) observerships/research spots at the U. Both did so for
Two years. The Observership got them their Visas. (green cards take years and years).
The Intent was to prove themselves while here and get into their home program
Residency programs. (IM and Derm) respectively. my friend is now awaiting
cards fellowship. well, with help from family and friends , they survived.
Proved themselves tremendously hard workers. and both matched here at the U.
so, look into observerships and research as a pathway to shine and get that
All annoying visa. keep in mind you won't be allowed to do any clinical work whatsoever. I know India has changed visa laws recently but it's doable.
D712

 

[blazers]

there is the alternate pathway program you can look into. i dont know much about it, other than its meant for students interested in doing an anesthesia fellowship like cardiothoracic here in one of the academic institutions, and then join an academic position for a while doing both full time clinical and part time research. Assuming you dont lose your practicing rights in that academic position, then after a while you will be granted full authorization to practice anesthesia anywhere in the US by the ABA. You may not even have to do the steps I think.

This is what I understand from it, but not very clear at the same time.

 

[curiousme23]

Thank you people for your response.
The alternate path look promising comparatively if it gets rid of the residency/match thing.
Is this the process:

Basically, USMLE step 1, 2
Get ECFMG certified
Apply for fellowship
Work on fellowship / research
Get practicing rights

How does one gets practicing rights after fellowship. An exam or a time frame?

Is there any professional guidance service I can use that can guide me through this process.

To answer some question above, I am from Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi and not AIIMS but both are comparative in terms of toughness 🙂

Thanks,

 

[biostat]

Unless you can come here to become the chairman or director of some department, or establish a huge research program/lab, you can pretty much forget about the alternate pathway.

 

[blazers]

Thank you people for your response.
The alternate path look promising comparatively if it gets rid of the residency/match thing.
Is this the process:

Basically, USMLE step 1, 2
Get ECFMG certified
Apply for fellowship
Work on fellowship / research
Get practicing rights

How does one gets practicing rights after fellowship. An exam or a time frame?

Is there any professional guidance service I can use that can guide me through this process.

To answer some question above, I am from Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi and not AIIMS but both are comparative in terms of toughness 🙂

Thanks,

From the limited I understand, one gets practicing rights after fellowship by working in an academic setting as an anesthesiologist (getting paid about 75% of what normal anesthesiology faculty would earn at that position) and for a duration of a few years, if you have no medical lawsuits against you and if you are not dismissed from the academic institution and you have been slightly involved in research, you will then soon after getting unlimited practicing rights for anesthesia everywhere in the US by ABA

and i dont think usmle's are required. if the fellowship demands it for admission, yes. but specifically for this alternate pathway program no and if you can find fellowships that dont need usmle's, then i dont think its a requirement

 

[blazers]

Unless you can come here to become the chairman or director of some department, or establish a huge research program/lab, you can pretty much forget about the alternate pathway.

no, you need a chairman sponsoring you in addition to being accepted to a fellowship program in that department. but no, you absolutely dont need to become a chairman or director.

so it would be necessary to email different chairmans in different programs asking if they can support your application for the alternate pathway. and also the chairman will prob relay your application to a fellowship director within the department

mind you all, i have a very limited understanding of this, but this is what i understand

 

[Labin]

Hey Curiousme23,

I am in the same boat. Can you please share me your email address so we can touch base on further information. Hope you are got more clear information about the promising alternate path to practice Anesthesiology in USA being a FMG/ MD in Anesthesiology outside the US. Thanks.