wat is clerkship or clerkmanship in US?

[marchipo]

hi, i'm new here. i'm a final year med student in india who is a green card holder in US. i have to do 1 yr internship in india, but somebody told me that instead of doing that 1 yr in india i can instead come to US and do a thing called clerkship, which would give me more expereince and an advantage because i plan to come to us and write my usmle and do residency over there !!!! i heard another thing called externship which is done after the 1 yr over here. but is not as advantagous as clerkship. can someone fill me on wat is exactly is it and will i have time to study for usmle while doing this???

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[Winged Scapula]

hi, i'm new here. i'm a final year med student in india who is a green card holder in US. i have to do 1 yr internship in india, but somebody told me that instead of doing that 1 yr in india i can instead come to US and do a thing called clerkship, which would give me more expereince and an advantage because i plan to come to us and write my usmle and do residency over there !!!! i heard another thing called externship which is done after the 1 yr over here. but is not as advantagous as clerkship. can someone fill me on wat is exactly is it and will i have time to study for usmle while doing this???

In the US, a clerkship refers to a period of time spent doing a student rotation. Typically, these are completed during the final 2 years (of a 4 year program) and are clinically oriented and hospital based (although some may be outpatient based). There are required clerkships which all US students have to complete - Surgery, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics-Gynecology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry and usually Family Practice. Some schools may have other requirements. Often in the final year, US students will do elective clerkships - these are rotations in areas they are interested in or perhaps want to get more experience in for the future.

An externship on the other hand is done after you have completed medical school and have your degree. It is not something commonly done by US medical students but rather is often suggested in the FMG circles. An externship is similar to simply "shadowing" a US physician - because it is done after graduation, you are not a student and you are not a physician (because you are not licensed in the US), and therefore, you have no clinical responsibilities. While externships are often mentioned as way to get into the US medical system, they offer you little in the way of clinical experience and in my view, are less valuable than clerkships.

If you can arrange for your medical school to keep you on student status, it may be possible to arrange some visiting clerkships in the US. However, you must still be a student. Once you have started your internship in India or graduated from medical school, these clerkships are no longer open to you. I do not know if it is possible for your school to keep you on student status, so you will have to investigate this yourself, or see if you can arrange for some US clerkships before you graduate this year.

As for studying for the USMLE, that is up to you - depends on how much time you need to study, how busy you are, etc.

Hoep this helps.

 

[marchipo]

that really helps, now i have an idea of wat it is, i can plan accordingly to it n see if it is possible for me to do it at all. thank you very much!!!

 

[ROBINHO]

Kimberly Kox

So how do I set up a clerkship??? By contacting individual skills??

How much does it cost(average) for each clerkship?

Well in my medical school the final year(6th year) is basically hospital based(=internship) and I intend to take a year off to take up clerkship in the USA and study for the USMLE...I wonder if that is possible...Are clerkships open during the whole year??

 

[Winged Scapula]

Kimberly Kox

So how do I set up a clerkship??? By contacting individual skills??

How much does it cost(average) for each clerkship?

Well in my medical school the final year(6th year) is basically hospital based(=internship) and I intend to take a year off to take up clerkship in the USA and study for the USMLE...I wonder if that is possible...Are clerkships open during the whole year??

If you school does not have affiliated clerkships in the US, you will have to work to set them up yourself.

Most schools have websites with information on how to apply for the clerkship. Simply choose some programs you are interested in, and look for information on visiting electives and follow the instructions.

It is very rare to have to pay for a clerkship. Some places like Harvard and Stanford charge you the prorated tuition rate, which could be upwards of $3,000 USD per month. Frankly, most schools don't charge you anything, so it would be a waste of money to go somewhere which does.

Programs will require that you still be a student, some require that you have passed USMLE Step 1, you must have malpractice coverage in the US and have this verified, at most US schools and some require that you have health insurance which covers you in the US as well.

Clerkships run all year around although the months between July and November are often difficult to get because US students at the program you apply to will have first choice. You cannot apply for Core rotations, ie, Surgery, Family Practice, Ob-Gyn, Pediatrics, and Internal Medicine but must apply for advanced electives in these or other fields. They cannot support visiting clerks while trying to train their own 3rd year students in these fields.

Hope this has helped - also try a search on this topic; there are plenty of threads.