Have Observerships Lost Value for IMGs ?

The usefulness of Observerships has been often questioned by some IMGs - can't blame them, since so many programs mention on their websites that they need hands-on clinical experience or a PGY1 internship and that an observership or clinical research does not satisfy that requirement.

BUT

while it's true that there are residency program directors that do not consider Observerships as clinical experience, there are also many other residency programs that do look upon observership experience as relevant, important and some, even necessary. Since we are in the era of Evidence-based this and Evidence-based that, here is some :

1. University of Buffalo Internal Medicine Residency Program ( SUNY)

"We prefer applicants who have had observerships in the U.S. or who have not been away from clinical medicine for more than 3 years (or who have graduated from Medical School within the last 3 years)"

2. St. Luke's Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program, Maumee, Ohio:

"U.S. experience in an observership role is more desirable than no U.S. experience at all."

And more which I swear I recollect seeing, but not have the patience and time to fish that out from the World Wide Web.






So, here's some things I gotta say:

1. If you had the luxury of deciding between a hands-on clinical experience opportunity and an observership, certainly select the former - hands-on experience is any day better than a mere observership, but if you have nothing else worked out, then do look for observerships - they are always better than no US experience of any kind.

2. Policies change as program directors change, which usually change every 3-4 years. Hence observerships may become important for some programs for a given year and might lose importance at others.

3. If you missed the US clinical electives boat during medical school, An Observership is at times an easier way to get a big university name on your resume than an externship, since externships are e usually available at high patient load low-budget community hospitals. ( Again, select an externship above an observership, if you had a choice)

4. An Observership still give you a US LOR !

5. Even if a program did not consider Observerships as US clinical experience - it would still look at an IMG with an Observership as more competitive than one with no U.S. Experience of any kind.

6. If the place of the Observership also has a residency program, that gives you a very good chance at getting invited for an interview at that program - you can always request the sponsoring physician to personally recommend you to the program director over email / phone.