Does Observing a Private Practitioner improve Residency Chances?

I have had plenty of emails from readers asking if observing a private practitioner in USA, who is most often a relative or a friend of a relative, is a good idea and whether it will help improve chances for getting those residency interview calls.
I have a standard 5-point reply to that one :

1. It's better that nothing !

2. It certainly helps you to avoid clinical gaps on the resume

3. Grants you a US LOR (Residents tell me American MD probably more credible than an IMG MD -- aaah well, I don't know...)

4. You should continue to keep looking for observerships / externships at a more preferable place by using the physician's networks/connections of referrals from other MDs or Institutions.

5. One advantage of observing a private practitioner is that the camaraderie builds up much better between you and the physician - you may gradually be allowed to touch-n-examine patients rather than just observe, and your 'observership' may well be qualified to be called an externship ;-). Of course, I suggest you get an OK from the MD about calling the experience as an externship before putting it up on the Common Application Format (CAF) of the ERAS application. Hmmmm...as you hear often - in USA, do not undersell yourself...always oversell ;-)


While it may be the easiest 'observership' to setup and often highly convenient, observing a private practitioner would certainly be at the bottom of my preference list. Here's how the preference scale for a Observership Venue should look like:

University Residency Program > University-Affiliated Residency Program > Community Hospital Residency Program > Non-teaching Or Non-Residency Hospital > Private Practice Physician, Group Practice, etc.

The More well-known the place, the more impact will it have on your resume.

Many residency Programs explicitly mention on their websites that observing a private practitioner does not constitute clinical experience - but then again, as I said, it's better than absolutely no US experience and you can always keep looking for openings through referral MD contacts...


Psst...Psst :
1. If the MD does see some of his patients at a good hospital facility and you observe him there too, you may instead mention that hospital as the venue of your observership on the residency application ;-)
2. If the private doc is important enough to a residency program, in that, the doc refers patients and all to the hospital - that constitutes a powerful 'contact' ;-)