International medical graduates and general practice training: How do educational leaders facilitate the transition from new migrant to local family doctor?

Abstract

Objectives: To document medical educators’ experience and initiatives in training international medical graduates (IMGs) to become general practitioners (GP).

Design: Qualitative social-constructivist emergent design with descriptive and interpretive analyses.

Setting: GP vocational training in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and UK.

Participants: Twenty-eight leaders of GP training.

Intervention: Data collected from public documents, published literature and 27 semi-structured interviews.

Main outcome measures: Tensions in training and innovations in response to these tensions.

Results: Medical educators identified tension in teaching IMGs as it could be different to teaching domestic graduates in any or all aspects of a training program. They felt an ethical responsibility to support IMGs to provide quality health care in their adopted country but faced multiple challenges to achieve this. They described initiatives to address these throughout GP training.

Conclusions: IMG’s differing educational needs will benefit from flexible individualized adaptation of training programs.

Acknowledgements

S.W. asserts that the views expressed here are her own and not necessarily those of her employer the Commonwealth Department of Health.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Glossary

International Medical Graduates: Are medically qualified doctors, who live, work and/or train in a different country to the country where they obtained their primary medical degree. International medical graduates are synonymous with foreign medical graduates and overseas trained doctors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Susan M. Wearne

Susan Wearne, BM, PhD, MMedSc, FRACGP, FACCRM, DCH, DRCOG, DFFP, GCTEd, is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Academic Unit of General Practice, at the Australian National University, a GP in Canberra and Senior Medical Advisor in the Health Workforce Division of the Commonwealth Department of Health.

James B. Brown

James Brown, MBBS, FRACGP, FACRRM, MFM(clin), is a GP supervisor and the Director of Education Quality improvement with Eastern Victoria GP training. He is also a senior lecturer and PhD candidate with Monash University.

Catherine Kirby

Catherine Kirby, BSocSci(hons), PhD, is the Research Manager for Eastern Victoria GP Training and Adjunct Senior Lecturer Monash Rural Health, Churchill, Victoria.

David Snadden

Professor Dave Snadden, MBChB, MCISc, MD, FRCGP, CCFP, is the Rural Doctors' UBC Chair in Rural Health, Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine, Northern Medical Program, Prince George, BC, Canada.