fellowship without residency - ilovepathology

[ArchivalUser]

can anyone tell us anything that they know about this option.

[ArchivalUser]

Fellowship without Residency (Direct Fellowship)

Yes. IMGs can go to fellowship directly. There's no specific list of specialties that accept IMGs directly because all of them can do that if they wish.

The criteria needed:

You need to be ECFMG certified which means you pass USMLE Step 1, Step 2 CK, and Step 2 CS.
You need to have had some sort of residency training in your country (MD, and MBBS are usually accepted)
Some fellowship programs even require that you pass USMLE Step 3.

How to get it:

Go to the NRMP Fellowship website and look for positions that are unfilled. When you find one, start talking by (email or telephone) to the program director and see if you are eligible or not. I want to remind you that getting these unfilled position is fairly easy because these programs will be losing money and may even face closure if they don't fill their positions.

What after direct fellowship?

If you want to live or practice medicine in USA then residency is pretty much unavoidable. Because most jobs require you to be board certified and fellowship does not get you that. Therefore, you need to go retrograde into residency after you finish your fellowship in order to be board certified so that then you can practice medicine in USA.

Any advantage of direct fellowship?

One of the advantages for the direct fellowship for the IMG is that if you don't get residency then it might be easier to get fellowship so that after finishing the fellowship it might be easier for you to get the residency specially in the same hospital where you did the fellowship as the attending and the program director now know you very well and they can get you in to their residency program after finishing your fellowship (but nothing is guaranteed, this is just an assumption).
The other advantage is that some IMG folks are already practicing specialists in their countries and all they are looking for is to get further sub-specialization and then go back to their countries and in that case this route of direct fellowship is a great idea for them.

[ArchivalUser]

the above are not my own words...I copied them off SDN from a USMLE Forum Staff named Sabio.

[ArchivalUser]

Im not 100% sure, but I think now the ACGME fellowships require a ACGME residency. You can get a non-ACgme fellowship but dont expect to be able to work in the US with that training.

[ArchivalUser]

@ sys_71082

Just 1 Q: if u get into direct fellowship training, u'd need to sit for that subspecialty exams at the end of the training and wud become subspecialty board certified, am I right??

Thanks!

[ArchivalUser]

Does these fellowships have salary?

[ArchivalUser]

@grace i have no idea but you definitely cannot practice without the residency training even if you complete the fellowship training...id assume that means you cant become board certified in even the subspecialty because board certification would mean you can practice when in this situation you cant

@sarah yeh i they do have salary....

[ArchivalUser]

@sys NOT true. I know of many physicians practicing after a fellowship route.

one poster even described his experience last month about how he finished Plastic fellowships and is practicing

just finished an elective recently and an austrlian grad was being retained as Clinical faculty.

I think there are certain restrictions you can't open up your own practice, and a lot of caveats but there are loop holes if you are good and usually its at the place you completed your fellowship for them to sponsor you

[ArchivalUser]

@kash hmmm that may be true because you do get licensing once you complete the fellowship however you would not be board certified which really limits what you can do. most hiring people want board certification and so do patients, so finding a job is really really limited. not impossible, but more difficult. id say its fine for a last resort but if you have an average shot at residency then id go for residency option first.

[ArchivalUser]

i think it is very good idea , i have limited chances in residency as i came here after 5 yog did the usmle in one year then um 6 yog, i was thinking of doing master in something and phd and follow this path but when u wrote your post i searched and i found good places doing this followship and i think the raod is open after that.thanks for sharing good luck to all of u