tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14436040333521907792010-01-26T16:09:10.896-08:00<center> Yes USMLE scores are important - but not everything for a Medical Residency in USA! To be Pre-Informed is to be In Form :-) Sharing Wisdom learned through application experience and mistakes - especially for IMGs / FMGs!<br><br> *International Copyright ® </center>Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.comBlogger116125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-62728112397608022852009-08-08T02:13:00.000-07:002009-08-10T04:40:31.765-07:00

I had already posted a reply to this as a comment, but then as I got some more other forum / email queries about this, it's time to make it into a mainstream post.While ECFMG certification by Sept. 1st is ideal, there is no need to panic if you aren't. Majority of the programs do not require IMGs to have ECFMG certification to be selected for interviews.You will find the following ECFMG deadline

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-28508891093474027692009-08-02T05:07:00.000-07:002009-08-03T05:44:41.593-07:00

After graduating from Internal Medicine, some of my seniors took up jobs in office-based primary care i.e. Generalists while some others chose to become Hospitalists (dedicated to inpatient care). Generalists see patients in their office, and if the patient is sick enough they admit the patient - now depending on the health system they work in, they may or may not follow the patient once

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-28643966022435368242009-07-05T09:32:00.000-07:002009-07-08T09:39:55.784-07:00

The "token" is nothing but a big unique number that you will need before you can create your AAMC ID. The AAMC ID, is turn, is used to access to your MyERAS i.e. the online Residency Application system. The same ID will also be used later at NRMP.org to participate in the Residency match, for which you will need to register separately before DecemberYea ! we are doctors, we NEED TO HAVE every

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-60931101569598862372009-06-13T07:39:00.000-07:002009-06-13T13:22:08.856-07:00

There are two main tracks of medicine in the USA : Allopathic and Osteopathic. The others would include the Chiropractors & Podiatrists, but it's tough to consider them truly comprehensive medicine. Other systems in the rest of the world include Homeopathic, Ayurvedic, Naturopathic, Yunani, etc. !Though this may not be technically correct, for all practical purposes, Osteopathic medicine =

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-27079105268975518012009-03-16T21:44:00.000-07:002009-03-16T21:52:43.067-07:00

...And godspeed to to those who will be participating in the scramble.Scramble is certainly not easy, but chance only works if you give it try, so jump it into it and try your best - You will find some useful preparation tips on the post-match scramble tips-n-tricks blog.I have been just busy myself and almost missed the match moment, until my cousin texted me that he got lucky this time and

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-48512769412270576642008-09-15T20:40:00.000-07:002008-09-15T21:26:01.576-07:00

Dr. Oswaldo A. Henriquez is one of the qualified and lucky IMGs who got into an ENT residency program in the 2007 match at the Emory University School of Medicine. Congratulations to him and here are the some of the neat pointers he pens down very wonderfully:"In 2007, only 9 of the 270 positions (3%) offered on the match were filled by FMGs—and these numbers did not even differentiate between

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-81287390079754616222008-09-14T21:18:00.000-07:002008-09-14T22:03:43.286-07:00

It's almost embarrassing to me thinking back about how I announced with a big fanfare that "I was back" and then flopped back into oblivion almost immediately *sigh*...thanks to my current first year residency schedule, I am pretty much on my toes, but it is also fantastic fun. Also, sometime back I had mentioned starting a mini-diary to log my daily residency experiences, and that's another of

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-44261172501589525542008-07-16T21:13:00.000-07:002008-07-16T21:47:04.914-07:00

Thanks to a pilot program designed pretty much on the same lines as the alternate pathway for board certification for Non-US trained Radiologists that I blogged about before, IMG anesthesiologists (i.e. IMGs with MDs in Anesthesiology in a Non-US country ) too can now qualify for American Board certification in Anesthesiology after Direct fellowships in US without having to do a residency again .

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-67914096309948215312008-07-12T08:48:00.000-07:002008-07-12T10:04:23.156-07:00

The American Heart Association (AHA) provides Basic life Support (BLS) and Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) training and certificates to healthcare providers in U.S. , which includes physicians, nurses, paramedics, medical technologists , etc. This post is in response to many queries from IMGs wondering if doing such courses in advance would improve their residency-seeking

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-74956334416089420352008-07-11T22:04:00.000-07:002008-07-13T17:21:14.277-07:00

Every time I see an animal with the capability to ruminate, it makes me a little jealous - wouldn't that be a great thing to have for us humans too ? ..... I could use that to quickly gobble up stuff before my morning rounds, and then bring it out again and ruminate peacefully on my drive to the hospital - that way save time, make more time to sleep and.....what ? did I gross you out ?LOL...no, I

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-37423165285626512432008-06-11T14:50:00.000-07:002009-08-18T08:26:33.823-07:00

Recently, the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors (AFMRD) published some detailed 'Tips-and-Tricks' for Program Directors to judge and pick the best candidates before placing them on the rank order lists (ROL) - and they were not talking about your USMLE Scores, but character: "Character is the trump card. It doesn’t matter what your USMLE scores are if you lack the character to be

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-46947327752326125142008-06-08T13:50:00.000-07:002008-06-08T15:02:32.235-07:00

I've been hibernating for more than a month now, from USMLEtoMD.com that is, without any new articles, not moderating nor responding to blog comments, emails and to forum posts either - possibly making some of u think that I might be cold-blooded - both biologically and metaphorically ;-) Well, break time is almost wrapping up for me and my desktop reminder system has begun beeping

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-45305581820429634652008-04-13T00:51:00.000-07:002008-04-13T01:05:14.817-07:00

While ERAS is certainly getting better each year with new features, a lot still remains to be desired - like, having all residency programs mention their selection criteria, USMLE score cut-offs and visa policies uploaded and visible through MyERAS itself - hmmm...on second thoughts, that would put the IMG friendly programs list blog out of service ;-)After the NRMP match is over, all that data

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-87664890635787591142008-03-31T23:10:00.000-07:002008-04-01T22:43:04.054-07:00

Today was a rainy, cloudy, gray and a thunderous day here in the Midwest and I simply had to take a refreshing walk in the breezy thunderstorms ! And though I enjoyed waddling and splashing in the tiny street-side streams more than I enjoyed waddling in the Pacific waters off the San Diego beaches few years ago, I couldn't help sensing an anxiety of July looming over the horizon - the

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-50690427492054286642008-03-06T01:06:00.000-08:002008-03-06T09:18:55.871-08:00

After writing those lengthy strategy plans for the 2008 residency Match and then again for the 2009 residency match, I finally had a stroke of common-sense and figured I could rather put my Javascript programming skills to use and automate the process...yeah laziness is setting in as my age is headed northwards :-PSo, instead I am gonna leave the new IMG folks at the mercy of the

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-31652781252086362412008-02-28T00:31:00.000-08:002008-02-28T00:47:28.927-08:00

With the Rank Order Lists now submitted for the 2008 Match, how many of you feel like that guy on the picture above - a unique mix of anxiety, excitement, wishing others luck and hoping for good luck for self ? If not yet, you will pretty soon... as the Match day nears ;-)Long time ago, when I was low & depressed, a good friend presented me with an excellent book called "Being Happy" by Andrew

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-23523490263252081462008-02-20T17:20:00.000-08:002008-02-20T17:39:44.866-08:00

...Which makes me take a brief trip down my memory lane to my med school days when I was often amused to see some medical students smoking away in hiding and urging me to 'not tell others' :-) , especially during stressful late-night emergency rotations. Various Studies done in the past to reveal smoking habits amongst physicians have shown a big variety of results like:- Psychiatrists show the

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-60720695558226865562008-02-12T23:13:00.000-08:002008-02-13T00:32:26.703-08:00

In case you missed it on the the USMLEtoMD forums, this is the email-response from the Medical Board of California (MBC) that a reader had posted about his query on applying for the California Letter (PTAL) without a Social Security Number (SSN) - for example for those on B1/B2 visas:The MBC will accept applications without a social security number (SSN) under the following conditions:1. Once the

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-42302022493462566612008-01-31T06:13:00.000-08:002008-03-09T16:10:38.617-07:00

This unique query came from a reader and warrants a post on it's own, as it aids understanding of the system.A "Deadline" for getting / accepting prematch offers, meaning the last date for getting any prematch offers from residency programs would technically be the same as the deadline for a program to change the quota of positions they submit to the NRMP match program. This quoata-change

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-50670360319546282512008-01-20T23:59:00.000-08:002008-01-21T03:00:22.702-08:00

I am gonna let this thread build up over time - as of now, I am putting up cues posted on the Harvard Medical school website:"Foreign medical graduates who have not obtained ECFMG certification can be admitted to the United States for the purpose of observation, consultation, teaching, and for research not involving responsibility for patient care. These applicants should identify an area of

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-68002833351361931412008-01-15T02:18:00.000-08:002008-01-15T02:33:00.211-08:00

This is just a short post to bring it to the attention of direct fellowship seekers that passing the USMLE Step 3 prior to start of training is a requirement for fellowships, irrespective of your need for a H1b visa. Most (or maybe all) fellowship programs need incoming candidates to be eligible for state licenses before the start of the fellowship and hence Step 3 will be needed whatever your

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-22711729462489156262008-01-11T01:02:00.000-08:002008-01-13T03:54:15.372-08:00

I have heard someone make the weirdest pronunciation of the term - "ACGME" LOL - For those who do not know, ACGME is an acronym and stands for : "Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education"I have already mentioned before that the term "Graduate Medical Education" implies Residencies and Fellowships.The ACGME is basically a private, non-profit organization that certifies the quality of

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-13994870542209809642008-01-02T06:59:00.000-08:002008-01-02T08:16:56.949-08:00

The other day I was reading about black-holes and how things never come out from them, including light - and somehow writing about waiving LORs reminds me of them ;-) - you will see why.To 'waive' is to forgo, forfeit or give up or 'waving goodbye to'... While waiving your right to see those letters of recommendation has its merit of adding more authenticity to the document, there are some

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-91616939236814004222007-12-26T04:00:00.001-08:002007-12-26T04:00:32.383-08:00

This will probably be the shortest post on this blog - just a quick reminder that you do not need to sweat over making your Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE) / Dean's letter to ERAS-ECFMG for scanning before applying - a situation that candidates still in medical school or recently completed medical school might encounter. a 1. Whether your medical school provides you with a Dean's

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443604033352190779.post-18700990881608716042007-12-21T14:39:00.000-08:002007-12-21T15:10:46.619-08:00

Family medicine residency program directors tend to be cautious about applicants with good reason - residents switching over to other specialties after the first year and has been especially true for IMGs.It gets tough to sift out applications of truly interested applicants in Family Medicine from those that are using the Family Medicine as a "Route" to clinical experience to help get into other

Digitaldoc, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06490732171275104383noreply@blogger.com6