Nephrology residence

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RodD

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Hello,

I am a medical student from Peru. I am coursing the 5th year of Medicine. Here, most medical schools consider 3 years of Basic Sciences, 3 years of Clinics and 1 year of Internship. After you graduate, you recibe the title of "Médico Cirujano", which could be considered as General Medicine.

Since I really like Nephrology, I've been considering going into Nephrology residence and I would like to do it abroad. I've been thinking about Canada, UK, Spain and France (though I am just starting to learn french).

Which country do you think it's the best to look for a way (either the ones I am thinking or other countries)?

By the way, I've been doing some research and I feel quite frustrated since it's pretty much hard to start any residence on every country I was thinking, but Spain.

I would really appreciate your answers and information related to the topic.

Thank you.

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If this is your last year of medical training, and you have not already thought about and prepared how to enter the US medical system, it is probably too late. Students outside the US that intend to do so start that preparation and planning very very early on. It is a path that takes many years and additional steps and is extremely competitive.

The US system is different, although similar to what you describe in Peru.

In the US, one completes the public high school education, then as adult goes to university or college (same thing) for a 4 year bachelor degree, which can actually take more or less time than that. Then they enter medical school which is 4 years and a rigid structure everywhere. After medical school, all they have is the medical degree. They have the title of doctor and no license and cannot practice or really do anything. They must do more training. They could do a one year internship to get a medical license but without a full residency (3-5, sometimes 7 years depending on specialty) cannot really do much.

Most medical school graduates enter into a residency training program. The first year is always called intern year, but the graduate is in residency training and called a resident the entire time.

Internal medicine includes the intern year and 2 more years, for a total of 3 years total training. This must be done before starting nephrology training, called a fellowship. I forget how many years that adds.

I cannot tell you it is impossible at this stage to try to practice in the US. Just that it is very difficult even with advanced planning from the start of medical school.

If I were in Peru and had the choice of going to the US or Spain, I would likely pick Spain. However, if you do train US then it is easier to go somewhere else. If you start somewhere outside the US then going into the US will be almost impossible.

Your English is much better than my Spanish but if I can help you understand all of this better let me know.

Good luck.
 
Thank you very much for your answer. I really appreciate it.

I am actually finishing the fifth year of Medicine here in Peru. So next year will be the last one (of lets say "Clinics" (not sure what is the equivalent in the US)) and, after that, it will be internship. And after those two years, I will get a medical degree.

Here in Perú, if we want to enter into the national residency program, we need to "do" the SERUM ("Servicio Rural y Urbano Marginal de Salud"). It consists of a year of working mostly on rural aereas as primary health assistance. After that service we can apply for a specialty.

Here, Nephrology residency does not requiere Intern Medicine (Though you actually spend some time on Intern Medicine). It's quite a shame (for me), since I really enjoy Intern Medicine.

Last year, a peruvian physician who entered into the US Medical system gave us a talk about his experience about it. It sounded quite complicated, so I quitted thinking about it. By that time, I didn't know that apparently it's as hard as or even less harder than entering into Canada or UK Medical system. It seems easier to go to Spain.
I wonder why you would go into Spain

Again I really appreciate your answer.
 
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