What are the residency prospects for graduates of offshore medical schools? 2016 update

Since I blogged about this two years ago, there is new data that may help clarify the situation for those who graduate from non-US medical schools. That post has had over 44,000 page views and 91 comments, some of which are responses from me to reader questions.

The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) has published a 290-page summary [Characteristics of Applicants Who Matched to Their Preferred Specialty in the 2014 NRMP Main Residency Match (5th edition)] of the 2014 match, the latest year for which complete information has been analyzed.

The number of US graduates participating in that year's match was 17,374 compared to 16,896 graduates of other schools including non-US IMG's (7334), US IMGs (5133), DOs (2738), US graduates from previous years (1662), fifth pathway students (15), and Canadian grads (14).

From the Main Match Results Data for categorical general surgery in 2014:

One way to look at these numbers is that if you are US senior applying for a categorical surgery position, you have a 922/1274 or a 72% chance of matching. If you are in the "others" category, it's 283/1108 or a 25.5% chance of matching.

In-Training: Stories from Tomorrow’s Physicians

A new book, In-Training: Stories from Tomorrow’s Physicians, is a collection of essays by medical students that originally appeared online. The book’s editors, Ajay Major and Aleena Paul, created the In-Training website as a place where students could express their thoughts and feelings about life in the pressure cooker that is medical school.

The 111 essays are brief and as is true of any collection of writings from diverse individuals, are of somewhat uneven quality. Some are good. Some are fair. Some are meh.

One of my favorite pieces was one by a doctor who had received his diploma 10 days before a flight home. During the flight, a woman collapsed—prompting the dreaded “Are there any physicians on board” announcement. The new grad was the only responder. Having experienced this myself a couple of times, I had no trouble identifying with the author who described his predicament well.

I learned something from another of the essays which described a novel intervention for wandering patients with dementia.

A unique feature of the book is that every story is accompanied by a few “reflection questions” prompting the readers to think about what they just read. The questions add value and could serve as the basis for stimulating group discussions.

New weapon to battle obesity or folly?

The FDA recently approved the AspireAssist, a tube placed into the stomach through the abdominal wall enabling a patient to drain a portion of gastric contents after eating. The idea is to remove about 30% of food intake after each meal. Food must be thoroughly chewed and taken with plenty of water in order for the material to drain properly. The manufacturer suggests draining the gastric contents directly into a toilet.

When I first heard of this device three years ago, I expressed my usual skepticism. However, a recent multicenter study presented at this year’s Digestive Disease Week looked at the use of the AspireAssist with counseling to counseling alone found that morbidly obese patients who used the device lost more than 30% of their excess weight compared to only about 10% for those in the counseling group. Bear in mind that the figures are percent of excess weight lost, not percent of total weight lost.

An interesting article on Stat News featured comments from both proponents and detractors. Here are some of them:

Just in. My wife named a top orthopedist

A couple of weeks ago my wife received this in the mail.

Of course we are thrilled that she was finally recognized as one of the top orthopedic surgeons in our city.

Last year I blogged about a similar honor that I received from the International Association of Healthcare Professionals. That eminent organization had named me a top surgeon. I was a little skeptical because at the time, I had been retired for two years.

I am sure the vetting process for my wife’s inclusion was quite thorough. However, they may have been mistaken about some important criteria.

For one thing, she is not an orthopedic surgeon. In fact, she isn't even a doctor. She is a nurse and manages an office for a large group of orthopedists. She is pretty good at reading x-rays and is a whiz at organization, staff management, patient interactions, suture removal, and fitting crutches. Maybe that counts for something.

From the format of the letters and the mention of the "renowned publication, The Leading Physicians of the World," it looks like the International Association of Orthopedic Surgeons might be run by the same outfit as the International Association of Healthcare Professionals.

The website does not list the cost but here are the benefits of being selected: wall plaque of achievement, leading physician feature video, leading physician press release, leading physician specialist online exposure, physician feature website, and [my favorite] endorsement of credentials.

We look forward to the selection of our dog Bailey as perhaps one of the leading neurosurgeons of the world.

I think she qualifies because she has been dead for three years.