Travel the world as a doctor

[Anigma07]

Are there any positions after med school/residency that allow you to travel the world for a bit? Medicine can really be practiced anywhere and being able to work in different countries earlier in your career would be pretty cool.

Any input?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DestinyPharmD]

Are there any positions after med school/residency that allow you to travel the world for a bit? Medicine can really be practiced anywhere and being able to work in different countries earlier in your career would be pretty cool.

Any input?

www.doctorswithoutborders.com

Also, if you are working as a travel pharmacist then many traveling healthcare companies can sometimes find many locations overseas.

 

[WaylonS]

Are there any positions after med school/residency that allow you to travel the world for a bit? Medicine can really be practiced anywhere and being able to work in different countries earlier in your career would be pretty cool.

Any input?

If you go into primary care, you can work for the State Department

 

[Anigma07]

I should have posed the question a bit differently: How easy is it for a US MD to get licensed in another country (e.g. Switzerland, England, Australia), if they want to spend a few years in that country?

 

[survivordo]

Much easier as an MD. Absolutely do NOT go the DO route if you want to have the most opportunities to work abroad, as of now it ain't easy.

Survivor DO

 

[starfar]

not as easy as you'd think.. to be honest, it's boarderline impossible in most countries unless you're doing it through some sort of global staffing/locum tenens type thingy.

the places where one would probably want to work for lifestyle (europe, some nice beachy spots in South America) generally have stringent locals only policies to fill the need (of course its easier if you have ties to the country or are married to a local)..

secondly, you can't expect to practice anywhere without language proficiency and they usually make you sit exams for this..

thirdly, you have to remember that EVERY country has their own rules on residency requirements, boards, etc etc and some are very different from the US so you would again need to take exams etc. to prove that you're what they would consider competent.. being an American isn't enough ..

and then there's the fact that the US healthcare system is very different from most other places so there would be a learning curve in trying to deal with the way they do things..

But for Australia, it does seem to be the easiest of the 3 you mentioned to work in.. Most global thingies i've seen love to send US Docs there..

in short, go to medical school and do residency where you want to set up shop and practice.

if when you become a physician, you're lucky enough to have an amazing group of colleagues that wouldn't mind picking up the slack for you while you travel the globe with a locum tenens company or NGO, that would be the way to go.

 

[Lefty Doodle]

The only country I've looked into is the UK (very easy for a US physician to get licensed--I think after residency is ideal). But I have heard that the US is the only place where you have to do all the exams, residency etc. to get licensed if you are already trained somewhere else. Language will probably be your biggest issue in most other places.

Just make sure you do your residency here so you can always come back!!

 

[MattyBee]

Much easier as an MD. Absolutely do NOT go the DO route if you want to have the most opportunities to work abroad, as of now it ain't easy.

Survivor DO

I know this is not really applicable for the OP since I believe he/she is already in a medical school.

But I feel as though this post is a little misleading. I do agree that there are more opportunities to work abroad as an MD because it is more widely recognized. However, to 'absolutely' not consider going the DO route in the hope that one day you will want to work abroad is totally crazy. Things change drastically throughout medical school and residency. Mid-to-late 20s is when people start getting married and having kids, etc. so priorities change. Your hope of one day becoming a doctor and traveling the world may not seem so appealing when you have a family to take care of.

To those select few out there who might actually follow through and travel the world, there are opportunities to practice as an osteopathic physician outside the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Osteopathic_Medicine#International_practice_rights

http://www.osteopathic.org/inside-a.../Pages/international-practice-rights-map.aspx

I do not go to an osteopathic school. So I am not one of those people who scours SDN looking for anyone doing wrong to the DO profession (not that SurvivorDO was doing that). I just wanted to make some clarifications so that future students who read this thread don't get the wrong idea.

 

[Evergrey]

The only country I've looked into is the UK (very easy for a US physician to get licensed--I think after residency is ideal). But I have heard that the US is the only place where you have to do all the exams, residency etc. to get licensed if you are already trained somewhere else. Language will probably be your biggest issue in most other places.

Just make sure you do your residency here so you can always come back!!

The unfortunate part about going to the UK to practice is that our debt load makes NHS salaries hard to swallow.

Replying to the OP though: as was mentioned earlier it's not as easy to work abroad as you might think. However, as an American MD, if you want to immigrate somewhere and put serious efforts toward learning the language/complying with certification requirements, you should be able to immigrate to basically any country in the world. A lot of countries have special clauses in their immigration laws specifying that doctors can get priority for immigration/work visas.

 

[Textbookversion]

I should have posed the question a bit differently: How easy is it for a US MD to get licensed in another country (e.g. Switzerland, England, Australia), if they want to spend a few years in that country?

borderline impossible

 

[Textbookversion]

Much easier as an MD. Absolutely do NOT go the DO route if you want to have the most opportunities to work abroad, as of now it ain't easy.

Survivor DO

No it's pretty much equally impossible regardless of the letters.

 

[Textbookversion]

The only country I've looked into is the UK (very easy for a US physician to get licensed--I think after residency is ideal). But I have heard that the US is the only place where you have to do all the exams, residency etc. to get licensed if you are already trained somewhere else. Language will probably be your biggest issue in most other places.

Just make sure you do your residency here so you can always come back!!

It's not very easy to get licensed in the UK, you've heard wrong. Most countries are very restrictive on foreign physicians getting paid to work there.

The only way you can really practice internationally outside of a ridiculously long process, is by doing international aid work.

 

[Anigma07]

Thanks for the input, guys. I'm getting mixed responses though. Has anyone taken their US MD license to another country to practice?

 

[starfar]

The only country I've looked into is the UK (very easy for a US physician to get licensed--I think after residency is ideal). But I have heard that the US is the only place where you have to do all the exams, residency etc. to get licensed if you are already trained somewhere else. Language will probably be your biggest issue in most other places.

Just make sure you do your residency here so you can always come back!!

Where are you getting this info? The UK is one the the most difficult!

OP just check out expatriate forums or go to the govt websites of the countries you're interested in. They each have different requirements.I highly doubt most sdn'ers would have experience taking their practice abroad

 

[xrevision]

Military medicine will take you all over the globe whether you like it or not.