Free List of Hospitals Offering USCE - Observerships, Clerkships, Electives, Externships, Mini-Residency and direct research / clinical fellowships
USCE (US Clinical Experience) is a great value addition to International Medical Graduates seeking Residency in the United States!
Though Family Medicine probably has the highest number unfilled residency positions each year, IMGs may not find it very easy to secure spots. A big concern among program directors is that candidates try to switch specialties after their first year, in essence, using family medicine as an experience building gig to apply to other specialties. Hence what they are looking for is signs of commitment to the specialty on your resume - and a specific family medicine clinical experience along with recommendations from family physicians should be a big plus. The Family medicine residency at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is "IMG friendly" , only allows J1 visas for residency. A good tip for IMGs is to read up profiles of IMGs accepted into their residency program to get an idea of what they are looking for.
They offer a 2-week observership for IMGs who meet the criteria to apply to their residency program. So start with looking at that first. Next, Download their Application form (Word document) . Plus you need supporting documents - which are enlisted on their website along with the mailing address to post application to - Click Here !
Once selected, you will also need to complete online training course for Occupation Safety and HIPAA - both of which are provided for free on the same website linked above.
Earlier on this blog, I had hinted at this possibility based on circumstantial evidence and now the Univ. Pittsburgh website does carry information about full fledged observership program for IMGs interested in Critical care medicine, which it appears has been around for a while... Also the program has unpaid and paid J1-research scholar programs.
Critical Care medicine, as you may know, can be done as a fellowship (either alone or in combination with Pulmonology), after Internal Medicine residency and is a popular fellowship amongst IMGs, but this ICU Observership experience will be useful even for the likes of IMGs applying for Anesthesiology, Trauma Surgery, Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics (NICU experience) etc.
Observership Details:
Duration: 1 week to 2 months
Visa: Visitors (B1/B2) or J1 (this is not a ECFMG / clinical J1 and will NOT be subject to 2-year rule). If on F1 student visa, then I guess you could do this during your summer break or on OPT status.
Cost: Observership itself is free - but of course you have to make your own arrangements for staying, food and travel. An optional $200 course in Critical Care Medicine can be completed at their simulation lab for things like running Code-blues, inserting central lines and intubation - If your wallets allow, I highly recommend getting this course completion on your resume !!
For documents needed and Application info - Click here
From August 2010, the Association of Chinese American Physicians intends to start an Internal Medicine observership programs at New York Hospital of Queens, Flushing, for ACAP members only.
ACAP Membership fees stack up like this: Full Member: $100.00 Student(CMG): $25.00 Associate : $50.00 Life Time Member: $1,000.00
Observership Details: Period: Two Weeks Timings: 7am to 6pm Requirements: Passing scores in USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK, CV + Personal Statement
Read More Requirements& Application instructions Here
UT Southwestern is a prestigious University to hang out at (Among the top 20 medical schools in US) and certainly a cool addition to your resume. Starting 2008, the University now has official Observership procedures & policies in place.
Specialties: Multiple
Period: Max 3 Months
Requirements: 1. Observer Application Form 2. Departmental Sponsorship Agreement 3. Copy of Medical school degree 4. Letter from home institution attesting to affiliation in good standing 5. CV
Visa: University Sponsored J1-exchange visa only allowed: (This J1 does not have a 2-year home residency requirement ) 1. Departmental J-1 Application Form 2. On-line J-1 Application to be completed by Observer 3. Proof of federally mandated health and repatriation insurance
I had made a reference to this possibility on my Indiana listings, but had not found a document clearly mentioning an application process. Well, here it is now !
Union Hospital at Terre Haute, Indiana, recently got good points for lowest heart attack death rates in the US. Their family medicine residency has an observership program that also accepts IMGs, after a rather exacting selection process - which includes a personal interview and requires a personal statement and three letters of recommendation - it's like applying to a residency program !
Only allow 4 observers every year are allowed, for a perdiod of 2 weeks each, from September through January. Now, the good thing about a tough selection process for an observership is that if selected, you would have a seriously good chance to ultimately make it into their residency program !
This gotta take the cake for most obsessive-sounding degree of caution & fear about having students/docs over for observerships..lol..read on
Like the website says:
"Opportunities for, and sanctioned activities of, observers are very limited! Per UCSD policy, all opportunities for Visiting Observers must be for no more than 5 days. Most visiting observerships with the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery are approved for no more than one or two days"
Visiting Clinical Observers:
- Have no access to patient information, records, photos, videos, etc. - Have no access to Hospital record or database systems. - Patient consent is required from patient for Observer to be present during visit
All inquiries for Visiting Observerships should be sent to Elizabeth Wei at ewei@ucsd.edu
Though the website mentions that the applicants need to fulfil US citizenship or Green card status, that's because they won't be sponsoring visas..hence if you can have your visitors visa or other status that allows you to be in the US (like F1 students can have summers off and yet stay in the US ), then it may not be a problem.
"Observership program - Medical students and doctors come from such diverse locations as Mexico, Germany and Guatemala to participate in the international observership program. These professionals and students spend approximately one month observing the techniques and processes of specialty clinics and inpatient units throughout the hospital"
Texas Children's Hosp. is the teaching wing for Baylor, so for contacting somebody about the above possible observerships, you will need to peruse Baylor's pediatrics department website
Recently, Maricopa Medical Center lost a legal battle regarding abortion training for its Ob-Gyn residents, to Dr.Christopher Carey, who insisted that it was unfair that abortion training be made compulsory for trainee residents who did not believe in abortion being ethical...fair enough!
Anyways, as usual, I am losing focus again..lol. The purpose of this post was to alert Radiology hopefuls about formal Observership program at Maricopa Medical Center in the State of Arizona. Details mentioned on the website include:
"All our rotations start on the first Monday of each month and are 4-weeks long. The hospital allows a maximum of 2 rotations per academic year.
Maricopa Medical Center provides three free meals per day from the hospital cafeteria, during your rotation. [Cool ;-)]
Free parking is available on-site. [Awesome!]
Rotators have access to the hospital medical library during their rotation. [Of course]. Two lectures are provided daily. One is at 7:30am and the other is at 12:00pm. Rotators are welcome to attend the 7:30am lectures and expected to attend the noon conferences. Most lectures take place in the Radiology Resident Conference Room.
Call and weekend coverage is not part of the rotation or observership. [Sigh of Relief !!]
Rotators and observers can present cases during noon lectures if schedule permit [Hmm..you should ! ] " Click Here for further information and Download Application Form
Observerships at Detroit Medical Center (DMC), Michigan
Probably amongst the largest residency programs in the USA, DMC along with Wayne State University have many hundreds of residents training in various specialties at any given time.
"Rotations are 4 weeks (1 month) in duration. Due to the number of observership requests GME receives annually, a limit of two one-month rotations per person has been set. "
How to Apply ?
"Complete the Observer application and send to GME with the following: A copy of your valid ECFMG Certificate, CV, USMLE score report, and Medical School Diploma (as well as translation if not in English) to:
Attention Observership Application Office of Graduate Medical Education 9C – University Health Center WSU/DMC Residency Training Programs 4201 St. Antoine Detroit, Michigan 48201"
Download their Observership Policies & Application Form Here
A good residency program for most specialties, this is what's mentioned on St. Luke's GME website:
"St. Luke’s-Roosevelt welcomes individuals interested in doing Observerships, with the understanding that Observers will be here on a voluntary basis, have no direct patient-care contact and not be eligible for academic credit from St. Luke’s-Roosevelt for the experience.
Individuals interested in setting up an Observership, must first contact the Department directly to determine whether they will be able to accommodate them for the period being requested. Upon obtaining Department approval and scheduling the period of the Observership, please consult the documentation listed below:"
Here's what a PDF document sitting on the Univ Wash. web server says :-)
"Clinical observational activities must be independently arranged by the student seeking this type of experience. The Medical Director’s Office does not coordinate communications or other arrangements for students seeking observational activities."
Doing the ground work of finding and persuading a faculty for an observership is left to you, The document does have a link to the departmental faculty listing. Once your luck shines on this, you gotta fill up an application form which inlcludes immunization status info
Observerships, Research Scholarships for Chinese IMGs
CAHON, which stands for Chinese American Hematologists and Oncologists Network, is a fairly new organization started in 2005 and offers the following funded scholarship positions for MDs from China:
Following positions are offerered:
Scholar for Translational Research: Lab-based Basic Science Research - Candidates must have M.D. and/or Ph.D. or equivalent degree(s) with laboratory research experience
Scholar for Clinical Research: Clinical Research - Candidates must have an M.D. or equivalent degree with interests in clinical research
Scholar for Clinical Excellence: Clinical Observership + Clinical Research - Candidates must have an M.D. or equivalent degree with interests in patient care
These competitive scholarships are open to all faculty members at an academic or medical institution in China who have shown keen interests and great potential in either cancer research or cancer patient care.
Visa Process arranged between the scholars and their research preceptors. Am guessing these are going to be J1 research scholar positions. These should be very useful for Chinese IMGs thinking Pathology, Surgery, Internal Medicine residency and of-course fellowships in Hemo-Oncology.
Thanks to a gracious reader who left me a comment to share with you all... TIPS SW stands for Texas Indo American Physician Society South West, which is one of the five chapters of the Texas Indo-American Physicians Society (TIPS), which is turn is affiliated to the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), about which I already covered on a previous post about IMG Physician organizations in USA.
Though this program is titled as an 'externship' it really is an observership in the way it works - implying no patient contact or hands-on experience....but if they officially allow you to call it an extership, that's what you can write up on your CAF ;-)
Lets go over the Details:
Duration: - Total 6 weeks, two rotations of 3 weeks each
Location: Non-Residency hospitals in San Antonio, TX
Specialty: - IM, Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Family medicine
Criteria: Minimum 2-digit score of 78 on both USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK
Application: - Click here to Apply online - Click here to download paper-format application
Fees: None mentioned, probably no fees, but you gotta take care of your own accomodation, travel, food, etc. etc.
Hmmm..2 IMGs per 6 weeks, which is about 17-18 IMGs per year....hurry !
Describing an Observership on Residency Applications
Each time you experience something fantastic in life all by yourselff - to others it is only as good as you can describe it to them ..be it a great movie you saw, or an awesome car you drove or maybe that amazing good-looker that just walked by your seat ;-)
I did answer the question about how to describe an observership on the CAF on the forum and then I thought I might as well put it up here as well ..so, here's a sample of some things to add:
- Followed residents and attending closely on history taking, physical exam and assessment/plan in inpatients and clinics - Participated in case presentations on morning rounds and contributed to management discussions - Diligently attended didactics, noon-conferences and weekly grand-rounds - Assembled and authored a case report with a resident on a patient with Wegener's granulomatosis - Achieved good diagnostic and management expertise in common cases like COPD, CAD, CHF, ARF, GI bleeding and CVA [dont use acronyms like I did here ;-)] - Gained practical expertise in the use of Cerner Electronic Medical Record systems, Epocrates drug lookup, etc. - Developed excellent professional rapport with patients, nurses, residents and attendings
Plus you can add stuff about any poster presentation, help on research work etc. too
No bluffing ....but think back and creatively expand on what you accomplished during the time, you often will find more if you look back ;-) As for those who still doing observerships or about to start theirs, use this post as pointers to what you could be doing during your rotation...
Search keywords to this post: - "sample description for observerships on CAF" - "how do i describe my observership experience on residency CAF application"
If my intent on this blog is to throw light on USCE possibilities and avenues for ya'll to follow-through, then I must back that with a disclaimer that in case it does not work out - "Like I said - This is a good possibility" ;-)
I might have mentioned this already, but you gotta understand that most observerships that IMGs are not formal departmental programs. Additionally, even though a website or a program coordinator emails you saying that we do not do observerships, if you make contact with a physician faculty on whatever pretext and then he /she does agrees on letting you observe , then the 'observership' will occur even if the department does not formally encourage it.
Anyways, when I see a Univ. Florida webpage declaring a formal procedure for visitors interesting in shadowing physicians (observing, that is), I would think it's a pretty good chance that you might.
The webpage itself was last updated in 2005, but its worth digging more into. Here's what it says:
"For any visitor who wishes to shadow a physician/clinical staff member and observe patient care at the University of Florida Health Science Center and/or Shands HealthCare at UF, the following must be done PRIOR TO THE VISIT:"
This is a second successive post on Opthalmology observerships and I should be useful to at least some prospective Ophthal-residency seeking IMGs. Maybe these observerships might have some value even to candidates seeking prelim surgery positions too. Here's a another one at the Doheny Eye-Institute in Los Angeles, California, affiliated to the prestigious University of Southern California (USC).
At Doheny Eye Institute, IMGs (i.e. International Medical Graduates or Foreign physicians) are responsible for their own visitors visa during the maximum of 2-weeks of retinal department observership. 2-weeks seems short but look at the bright side - this hospital was ranked 8th in the 2007 US News Ranking for Opthalmology and besides we are talking Los Angeles here = 2 weeks is gonna be blissfully cheaper than 4 weeks or 6 months..hehe
Note: Besides IMGs seeking US residency positions, Observerships at prestigious places in the US can be valuable resume additions even to IMGs aiming for Australia, New Zealand, etc.
J1 Research / Observership @ Univ. California, Irvine
Yet another possible good opportunity for IMGs, not only for a clinical observership but also getting to do pulmonary medicine research alongside.
Of course, logically speaking, this experience would be especially useful for candidates planning on pulmonary medicine / critical care fellowships later on, but since thats a sub-specialty of internal medicine, candidates with interests in Internal Medicine should find it useful too.
Specific Notes:
1. If a visa is needed, Only J1 visas are accepted for the purpose at UCI - Note that a J1 visa for a visiting research associate / fellow / observers is not automatically subject to a 2-year home stay rule [212(e)] - read more on this on my post about types of J1 visas .
2. You can get your own short-term Health Insurance - if not, the brochure gives contact information for help on that issue.
3. Since this is not a post-graduate training position, the California letter (or PTAL) should not be necessary.
4. This is NOT a J1 RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP - rather it is an unpaid and voluntary research - another reason why I strongly believe this J1 will not be subject to the 2-year home residency requirement.
I don't believe I actually missed this one before - but here's information about observerships for IMGs at the IMG-friendly Wayne State University at Detroit, MI
Duration: 2 Observerships of 1-Month Each Allowed Per Person Specialties: Multiple Visa: Visitors Visa Allowed - other visa statuses (LIke an F1 during the summer) may qualify too Application:Click Here for Application Information Eligibility: MUST BE ECFMG Certified
[ Note: Needing ECFMG Certification for an Observership is not usually the case, that usually applies for IMG externships.]
Medical College of Georgia is one of the top-100 grant fund receivers from the NIH. This post is to alert IMGs interested in Ear Nose Throat (E.N.T) Surgery to a possible observership at the Thyroid/Parathyroid Center at the Medical College of Georgia.
Like I often mention, having a US Observership is better than having no US Clinical Experience at all - lemme add that having a related US Clinical Experience is better than having no US Clinical Experience at all - and thus, an ENT Observership might be of value even to the General Surgery or other surgical specialty IMG candidate.
As the Observership section on the website says:
"If you are interested in observing one of our physicians in surgery or in the patient office, please email your Curriculum Vitae and your preferred visitation dates to donnab@mcg.edu. MCG Health System requires at least 30 days notice for approval of observerships."
These are clinical experiences that the University of Iowa refers to as 'traineeships' - both observerships and hands-on externships for physicians with IOWA licenses, but for IMGs, they seem to be limited to observerships.
These are conducted as CME - Continued Medical Education activities and charged as thus.
This is what their instruction document says about Non-US Physicians seeking 'traineeships'
"If you are NOT a U.S. licensed physician who would like to apply for a traineeship, please contact the Carver College of Medicine’s CME Division at 319/335-8597 for assistance. "
So that is what you should do and then get back here to leave a comment your findings ;-)
And this is what the Iowa Medical Board says about US Clinical Experiences in Iowa for unlicensed IMGs:
"State law does not allow a physician who is not licensed in Iowa to provide hands-on care except in certain circumstances. The Board cautions physicians not to provide clinical experience with patients for graduates of international or domestic medical schools when the graduate is not licensed in Iowa as a physician. While the Iowa-licensed physician may offer such a graduate the opportunity to observe, the observer may not provide direct patient care, regardless of the level of supervision."
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 :
"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)"
"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.
ACR's Radiology Observerships for Iraqi Radiologists
Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Abdul Hadi Al Khalili, the former chair of the department of neurosurgery at the University of Baghdad, who had to escape the unfortunate & merciless killings in Iraq- the American College of Radiologists will host at least 6 Iraqi Radiologists each year for up to 4 weeks of Observerships at various participating Radiology Programs across the US.
The Radiology Programs Initially participating are:
- University of Michigan Medical School, MI - Henry Ford Hospital, MI - University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, PA - Thomas Jefferson University, PA - Massachusetts General Hospital, MA - University of California at San Diego, CA
Plastic Surgery Observership: Children's Hosp. Boston
So how many of ya'll are aiming for Plastic Surgery residency/fellowships in the United States ? Even if you were not planning the US and were interested in pursuing plastic surgery in other countries, an observership in the United States would certainly hold a lot of juice - and that too in a place like the ultra-prestigious Childrens Hospital of Boston which was Ranked 2nd In the United States by 2007 US News report for pediatrics.
Details for the plastic surgery observership:
Visa: IMGs need to do their own visas - so a visitors visa would work - in fact any visa would work as long as you don't violate the visa status. IMGs on F1/OPT visas elsewhere could do this during their summer break - hence apply during the Winter (spring) semester
Duration: More than a Month Permitted (Limited to observing three physcians total)
Application Procedure: There are two parts - Online part and the Paper part - BOTH need to be completed. Click here to goto Application Instructions
Fees: Not Mentioned, possibly no fees, but the scary living costs in Boston sound like high-fees themselves :-D
The website also says:
"In addition to shadowing day to day practices, observers may also be invited to watch surgical procedures. Observers may also have the opportunity to attend different conferences; as well as utilize all of the resources found in Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Libraries."
I don't like the flavor of the 'may also be' part in the statement above - after all isn't WATCHING SURGICAL PROCEDURES the highlight of a surgery Observership ? ;-) Of course, you should clarify this with them before hand...after all, you don't wanna only observe how the surgeons walk, talk and wend coffees off the machines ...hehe
As Drexel Medicine's Physician Refresher Course website says:
"An innovative program for physicians wishing to return to active clinical practice, change their sub specialty, or prepare for admission to US graduate medical education training programs.This program may help meet the current physician shortage needs."
Hmm...Option 1 is what Most IMGs would be interested in. Drexel University is a prestigious place to be and have on your resume - except that the fees are pretty steep.
Whoa ! It's absurd that only one letter 'r' separates the words "Fee" and "Free" - They need to be totally different-looking words that bear NO resemblance to one another ..he he..and besides someone who can afford to pay those is already very well off and doesn't need to be a physician income-wise ......I meant income-wise ;-)
ELECTIVES / CLERKSHIPS (3rd / 4th Year Medical Students)
University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle Duration: Maximum of 12 Consecutive Weeks Visa: Will Sponsor Student Visas Only (F1) - Visitors Visa Not Accepted Fees: Need to pay for two credits per week Application Information
OBSERVERSHIPS
University of Washington Affiliated Hospitals Specialty: Family Medicine This is what their Website says: "We do not offer observerships at the University of Washington Family Medicine Residency program. Our department is, however, affiliated with WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho) region residencies and we encourage you to contact our network office for further inquiry (206.685.1856)" ....I say you should make the contact then :-)
Hmmm..either an innovative IMG trying to grab attention of physicians - or more likely an old / new clinical experience organization trying to recruit physicians - $2000 to be paid to the physician for one observing IMG - steep price, eh ! If that's what the USCE firm pays the physician, the IMG will obviously need to pay much more to the firm ....hmmm...middle men ALWAYS shoot up prices...
If the above method worked worked successfully for IMGs (for externships rather than cheaper to find observerships)...there will be no middlemen - Like Denzel Washington going directly to Vietnam to get drugs cheap in "American Gangster" ;-)
The American Medical Association House of Delegates (AMA-HOD) meets each year around June to discuss new policies and proposals. Year 2007 saw a proposal introduced by the International Medical Graduates sections on the AMA about designing a formal observership program. While the proposal listed as Resolution 308 was surely not rejected, it has been referred for consideration pending resolving legal issues by individual states
Currently not many program directors are aware that a thing like 'observership' can even be done, while others are too scared of the legal implications - hence a formal model plan that comes from AMA will be most beneficial opening up many opportunities.
Hmmm...Around 10,836$ had been requested to find out about "collect information on observership programs, develop a model program, and disseminate information about the model program" - They could have just given that to me, you know - and I could have simply allowed them to call this blog an official part of AMA ;-) Lol
Exploring "AHEC" centers for US Clinical Experiences
AHEC stands for Area Health Education Center and as the National AHEC website says , the AHEC program was "developed by Congress in 1971 to recruit, train and retain a health professions workforce committed to underserved populations" with 120 medical schools and 600 nursing and allied health schools working together to provide health care experiences to medical students in every state.
Click here to check out an interactive US Map that gives a listing of AHEC centers offering clinical rotations all over the United States - clicking on an individual state gives you the contact person, email and phone numbers of the AHEC centers.
Note that these are generally meant for US Medical school students since they are funded by tax-payers money. However I know an IMG who called up a center in Missouri and not only got a 4 week rotation, they also also arranged for his stay for a mere 75$ for the month, and that was because they did not have enough of their own medical students to rotate at that period. Anyways it would not hurt to try and talk / email politely saying you are an IMG and are looking for an experience with them since you are keen on practicing there after a residency. Though these are hands-on experiences (externships /clerkships), IMGs would most likely be allowed to only observe.
I would suggest a better idea would be to Google individual state AHECs to get mroe information. So for someone - so since we were on the Missouri page, this would be googling for "Missouri AHEC Clinical" and I get this page.
Having said that I would still prefer an experience at a teaching university rather than a non-teaching hospital - but remember the golden rule - some USCE is better than a none at all :-)
Maine Dartmouth Family Practice Residency: Residency Website Note: This info is based on circumstantial evidence - an IMG resident profile on the website says the resident did an observership at the program before the residency ! (yeah ain't I cheeky :-p )
There are three entities that must come together to make an Observership happen:
1.You, of course
2. The Physician that you will be observing: The physician that you end up 'observing' is also referred to as the 'sponsor', preceptor or the mentor. The term 'sponsor' in the context of an observership often finds some IMGs scratching their heads wondering if that 'sponsors' involves some visa or money matters - Well, No, that does not. The term in this context means: "a person who vouches or is responsible for a person or thing" [yeah , I scrubbed that off dictionary.com ;-) ] 3. The administrative office that will take care of the paperwork and other stuff depending on the hospitals / programs / institution policies. Paperwork involves getting your immunization / medical records, visa issues and HIPAA issues (shall deal with HIPAA soon)
Now, looking at the way various IMGs have historically got observerships, I tend to classify observership arrangements in three categories:
Informal, Semi-formal and Formal
[Lol...I am almost making this sound like a science in itself ;-) ]
1. Informal:
In a majority of places trying for observerships is an informal affair, it is upto you to make contact with a potential physician 'sponsor' via email or phone or in person to make a request. If you are lucky to write to the right person at the right time and right place, you will find a doc who is willing and get the stone rolling with the administrative office. Hmmm..so the more efforts and more places you contact, the better your chances will be. And if you got contacts in the form of residents, physician relatives, your 'chances' almost become a 'certainty' ;-)
2. Semi-Formal:
In this scenario, the department will allow observerships but will typically want you to first make contact with their physicians themselves - i.e. you gotta find a willing physician 'sponsor' yourself, and then the administration does the rest of the paperwork for you. Thus, they have an observership program in place, just that there are no formal applications accepted.
3. Formal:
This category, unfortunately the most uncommon, where the office will formally accept potential applications and then forward them to their staff physicians to make the selections on a rolling basis. The observerships mentioned on this blog with a link to application forms belong to this category, some are free while some need you to pay a fee.
Oklahoma State Medical Association (OSMA) Specialties: Various - Family medicine, Internal Medicine, Anesthesiology etc. Application: To Apply, You must procure an Application Form from OSMA - call 405-843-9571 OR 800-522-9452 and inquire about the application forms. Usually, they will email the forms to you. I secured the forms from a pal - Download sample OSMA externship form Here. Use this downloaded form only as reference, You should communicated with them directly for the form - also try emailing Linda at mcdonald@osmaonline.org, for the forms, as long as she is working for the OSMA ;-) Click here for OSMA Externship Program Website Link Duration: "The Extern will be allowed to have four (3 week) rotations with a sponsor in different specialties. Upon completion of the Externship rotations (twelve weeks), the IMG Council of the OSMA (upon receipt of letters from sponsor physicians) will give a letter and certificate of completion to the Extern indicating the number of weeks as well as physicians and their medical specialties" Cost: This Externship Is Free, but IMGs must take care of their own living expenses
Notes:
1. The OSMA Externship program closes from time to time, depending on the applicant volume, but reopens again - so keep a look out on their website Here for the notices. 2. They call it an 'externship', but works like an observership, since IMGs are not allowed any patient contact. Well, if the certificate from the OSMA says 'externship', I would not be wrong to call it an 'externship' when I fill in the ERAS application form for residency applications, would I ? ;-) 3. This one is from a State Medical Association, which means, its prestigious !
OBSERVERSHIPS
United Regional Health Care Center, Wichita Falls Specialty: Family Practice Cost: 300$ per Month (This information awaits being verified) Contacts Page
Merit Care Hospital, Fargo Heard about this from a friend - so you will need to contact docs on their website Click Here for Searching Faculty List by Specialty (Select Specialty and Click on Search) , next click on the doc's name and that will lead you to the phone number Lotsa IMG docs !
Indiana University School of Medicine Specialties: Ob-Gyn + Family Practice Click hereto Download Criteria and Appointment Letter format (pdf) Requirements: ECFMG Certification, At least one US LOR Allow Visitors, Student (F1) and even J1 visas
Note: The letter is to be completed by the faculty after you land an externship, which implies you will need to write to individual program directors / faculty of desired specialty to get an externship"
OBSERVERSHIPS
Indiana University School of Medicine Specialty: Internal Medicine Click here for Observership Information - Check out the last paragraph on that page, which says:
"Two of the partner hospitals, Wishard Memorial Hospital and Clarian Methodist Hospital will consider applicants for observership. At Clarian, prospective observers should contact Marcia Bothwell, Residency Program Coordinator - B342, Clarian Methodist Hospital, 1701 N. Senate Blvd, Indianapolis, IN 46202 or phone 317-962-5096. At Wishard, please contact Dr. Kaisner-Duncan, 1001 West 10th Street, OPW M200, Indianapolis, IN 46202 or phone 317-630-7044." ...Sweeeet ?
Union Hospital, Terra Haute, IN Specialty: Family Medicine Period: 2 weeks Application requires 3 LORs, Personal statement & Interview ! Good chance to make it to residency program if selected. Has IMGs ! Click Here for Application Process
University of Kentucky, Lexington Specialties: Internal Medicine Contacts Page (Try Contacting the Program Director and even the Individual Faculty Listed - some IMGs have been getting observerships here at this program)
Inova Health System "The Office of Undergraduate Medical Education manages requests for observerships by medical students, university students, high-school students, and laypersons who have not yet earned an M.D. degree." Application & Contact Information
North Richland Hospital, North Richland,TX Specialty: Pediatrics Note: This was mentioned on the resumes of one of the residents at the Texas Tech University of Health Sciences at Amarillo - hence an externship might be a possibility to explore.
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Specialty: Family Medicine Observership Information : For IMGs currently enrolled in Post-Graduate Family Medicine Residencies in Home Countries
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Specialty: Physiatry (PM & R)
MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston (University of Texas) Specialty: Pulmonary Medicine (Internal Medicine) Observership & contact Information (scroll down on the page)
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Specialty: General Surgery Click Here for Application Information - scroll down on the page
University of Texas Southwestern Medical School (UT-Southwestern) Specialty: Toxicology Duration: 4-8 week rotation Applications, Contact and FAQs Note: They even offer a direct 2-year Toxicology Fellowship without need for US Residency for IMGs who have completed post-graduate training in Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics, Preventive Medicine, or Internal Medicine. Read More Here
A good residency program for most specialties, this is what's mentioned on St. Luke's GME website:
in the United States ? Even if you were not planning the US and were interested in pursuing plastic surgery in other countries, an observership in the United States would certainly hold a lot of juice - and that too in a place like the ultra-prestigious Childrens Hospital of Boston which was Ranked 2nd In the United States by 
" ;-)
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