residency pay

^^what she said. Someone isn't giving you a complete picture of how this whole thing works. Fellowship w/o residency would be like college w/o K-12 .

[scrub-jay]

^^what she said. Someone isn't giving you a complete picture of how this whole thing works. Residency w/o fellowship would be like college w/o K-12 .

Don't you mean fellowship w/out residency?

Basically: Med School: The basics of medicine --> Residency: 3-7 years (depending on program and specialty) where the docs learn the trade of a specialty of choice --> Fellowship: Further specialization of their specialty

Hope this helps!

Yes, i do. Allergies + iPad typing make for usless commentary. Carry on ...

[Cinderella]

Thank you everyone! I was going to ask for a book recommendation so I didn't have to ask so many questions. I'll check it out. I'm having allergies too. Yucky.

[Vanquisher]

There are sometimes fellowships that are built into residency programs. For example, there is a general surgery program that I know of where as a 4th year, at least one of the residents does a critical care fellowship. Their PGY-4 year is generally a research year. So, I do know of people who have done fellowships concurrently with residency, but that is far less common. I also knew a resident in the same program who extended his research year into two years and earned his PhD.

In general:

Medical school >>>
Internship (separate or as a part of a residency program) >>>
Residency >>>
Fellowship, if necessary or desired

As with everything else though, there are a million different ways that this happens.

General surgery is typically a 5 or 6 year residency.
Plastic surgery has a small number of select residency slots, 6+ years, or it can be a fellowship following a surgical residency

http://www.amazon.com/Isersons-Getti...dp/1883620090/

I will second this book.

Internal Medicine, I believe, is typically a 4 year residency.
Cardiology is a fellowship following an internal medicine residency
Ophthalmology and Ortho are 5 or 6 year residencies.

All of these specialties vary widely in scope of practice and in difficulty to obtain. Ortho is really, insanely competitive, and it is almost impossible for a FMG to get an ortho residency. A Plastic Surgery Residency is probably the same if not MORE competitive because they are so rare. General Surgery has some years that are more difficult to match than others, but in general it is middle of the road to a little more difficult to match in than average.

[MissCrabette]

Internal Medicine is a 3 year residency, which you can then follow with a myriad of possible fellowships of varying competitiveness. IM would probably be your best bet, as General Surgery is a a lot more difficult to get for IMGs. I'm not saying it's impossible, just very competitive. Here's some info on IM, and you can then find your way around to info on the other specialties:

http://residency.wustl.edu/medadmin/...0?OpenDocument

[Cinderella]

Thank you so much everyone! This is all very insightful.

[MDPhDWife]

Ophtho is 4 years & is pretty competitive, especially as a FMG.

[diggitydot]

Even lowly family medicine residency slots can be tough to get as an FMG. Some programs have a distinct bias and would rather not fill and deal with the scramble than rank an FMG.

[alison]

I do think that because your dh has experience as a physician that that is taken to account. Another helpful resource is getting in touch with your spouse's alumni group to see if there's anyone in the US working at a university hospital that he can talk to.

Don't be discouraged!

[SuzySunshine]

I do think that because your dh has experience as a physician that that is taken to account.

alison you mean for matching, right? Because it won't matter on the pay scale, he'd get paid the same as all other residents. Just want to make sure that is clear.

[alison]

Oh yes, that's what I meant. Experience means diddly when it comes to the residency pay scale.

[Cinderella]

He did meet one alumni by chance back east that graduated a few years before him. That man was willing to sit down to coffee with him and chat about his options. I don't know much else about the guy or if they stayed in contact afterwards. Another alumni is back and forth between Kuwait and California. They are on fb together and were friends at the medical school before this. He has currently taken up to Step 2 but says he's going to go back to Kuwait and make more money before coming back and taking Step 3 and starting the application process. I know he had to take Step 1 twice. I guess he makes good money in Kuwait as a doctor because it's tax free. I'm not sure what visa process he goes through to go back and forth either because I know it's difficult to get a tourist visa coming here from over there. It has to be a family one or a work one because he's traveled back and forth several times already since my husbands been here. I also know of a third alumni that is back in Egypt that presented an alternative for him. This one was a promising pediatric doctor who married another female doctor he went to medical school with way before my husband. Around 10 years ago he started writing medical articles online on the side. He was able to stay in Egypt and quit his practice because he was making so much money writing these article for online and the media. He said it takes awhile to build up the resume though before you start making good money and can quit your practice to write full-time.

I don't know how organized their alumni association is but that's a good idea to encourage him to make contact and follow up with any leads here.

Again thank you everyone!

[poky]

If nobody else has already said it, you can start here for an overview: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical..._United_States, follow the links to the main articles for each stage, too; that'll give you some of the basics.

I hate allergies, too! Good luck getting them under control!

[poky]

If nobody else has already said it, you can start here for an overview: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical..._United_States, follow the links to the main articles for each stage, too; that'll give you some of the basics.

I hate allergies, too! Good luck getting them under control!