US residency journey … Long post
Part 1: finding USCE
US clinical experience is a witch hunt, It is not served in silver plate especially for those who are not from the USA… However you can get it if you are persistent.
I like most of you came to usa without any contacts in the states. I knew few distant doctors who were always giving the general advice that you always see in these forum… They are not wrong though! Here is my experience…
Anykind of experience in the united states is a good start. Belive me I have volunteered in so many places when most of the time I was not sure if what I did was worth my carrier.Observations, externships, research and volunteering in free clinic are some options for IMG’s.
I will talk of research here.
To start off,. I made a compelling CV… Even though I had zero research experience, I highlighted my clinical experience. If you did your medical school and internship in india you are exposed to a very wide clinical pathologies[trust me] that make your foundation strong. So I would recommend focusing your CV on that. CV is a formal way to reach to people. Simply emailing versus emailing with your CV adds more weight. Same time dont add lifeevnts not appropriate to medicine in your CV.
Second: Email people. I started by looking t nearby university webpage. Professor who are actively participating in research trials. It takes some time to get a hang of it, but instead of browsing social media I would haunt these university wepage. Foe g if you go to the department of medicine they will have t he list of faculty and scholarly activity. [Ofcourse not all program have such detailed webpages]
The same site might have email aswell. SO start emailing them. Tell them what you are looking for. If volunteer as research assistant is a common term [term I used to start off]. If you stay near their locality that a plus since that tells them they don’t have to worry ab tur stay and stuff.[honestly the more they haveto worry about nonmedical stuff[visa,stay,food,transport] they better it works for you]. Tell me how long you are willing to contribute, and what is your future goal. Be honest. Everyone knows you are IMG and your goal is residency so no har in telling them upfront. If you will be available only for few days in a week inform that as well.[But if you have been struggling to get some USCE, it better to be flexible atleast in the beginning , until they really like you].
Email Email email… I would have emailed 100’s of people… Make it personal. Use their name rather than a generalized doctor. Be very brief. Now that I have worked with few attending I know how busy they are,They don’t have time to read your lifestory. Be very to the point.
And email reminders… Dot expect that you will get reply from all the people you email and the first time you email. Believe me of the 100’s I emailed … and the multiple time I emailed hardly 1 or 2 replied. I didn’t hear from anyone for like months. But eventually someone might get back to you.PLEASE DON’T EMAIL THEM EVERY WEEK OR EVERYDAY! THAT ANNOYING. After like a week or so if you don’t hear back… send like a gentle reminder email… I usually try upto three and then give up.Unless I met with them and they asked me to email them …Then I will email again.
please don’t ask me details of the people I emailed and their email ID,since I am not sure if they are taking anymore RA].
Email VA Doc since they always look for freebies sad but true. keeep trying never give up… Its hard but it wiol get better