American Foreign Medical Graduates

Abstract

The performance during graduate medical education of Americans who have studied medicine abroad and who have taken a year of intense and closely supervised clinical clerkships (fifth pathway program) was assessed. Only 14% of such house officers were given inadequate or below-average ratings in overall clinical performance by residency program directors. Ninety percent or more received average, good, very good, or excellent evaluations in their ability to take medical histories and perform physical examinations, in their response to instruction, in behavior and interpersonal relationships, and in appearance and emotional stability. Seventy percent were said to be as good as or better than house staff in general. Carefully selected and properly motivated Americans who have studied medicine in a foreign country can become good physicians following a well-organized, comprehensive, closely supervised year of clinical clerkship education. (JAMA241:714-716, 1979)