This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
We continue our Foreign Student Series this week with a question from a
doctor at a hospital in Vietnam. Tran Kinh Thanh in Ho Chi Minh City asks how a
foreign doctor can become an American doctor.
One way is to complete a medical residency in the United States. A residency
is a period of hospital training for medical school graduates.
To be accepted, foreign-trained doctors need approval from the Educational
Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. The process involves passing several
tests. After that, foreign doctors can receive a visa to stay in the United
States, at least for the training period.
Practicing medicine in the United States also involves other steps.
But the first thing that foreign-trained doctors have to do is make sure they
attended a recognized medical school. It has to be listed in the FAIMER
International Medical Education Directory. FAIMER is the Foundation for
Advancement of International Medical Education and Research.
If their school is not listed, then foreign-trained doctors cannot be
approved for a residency. One solution is to go back to medical school -- an
American medical school.
One hundred twenty-five schools in the United States belong to the
Association of American Medical Colleges. The group says more than one thousand
one hundred foreign citizens applied for the current school year. One-fourth of
them were admitted last fall.
Almost all medical schools in the United States require applicants to report
scores from the Medical College Admission Test.
Future doctors in the United States traditionally complete four years of
medical school after undergraduate school. Then, as residents, they treat
patients under the supervision of experienced doctors. A residency is generally
between three and seven years. The first year is called an internship.
The Association of American Medical Colleges publishes a book called Medical
School Admissions Requirements. The newest one is for 2008-2009. The guide has
details about every school as well as information for foreign students.
The book costs twenty-five dollars and can be ordered through the
association's Web site.
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy
Steinbach. I'm Bob Doughty.
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