UCLA IMG Program... a home away from home.

A very interesting thing happened to me a few weeks ago that made me realize what extraordinary human beings I was working and studying with in the UCLA IMG program.
First of all my name is Miguel Casillas and I’m from Tijuana Mexico. It was the day after my USMLE step 2 CS exam, I was in Santa Monica at UCLA Les Kelley Family Health Center during the morning to return some books I had borrowed and to talk to some fellow IMG’s to talk about how my exam had gone the day before. Afterwards me and my wife who had gone with me to LA decided to spend the rest of the day in Santa Monica and visit the pier and spend the day relaxing, little did I know what was about to happen.

After having lunch I started to get this strange discomfort in my lower abdomen, it was very strange unlike anything I had ever felt before. I thought it was just the lunch I had just had and decide to just walk it off. But slowly the discomfort starting to get worse little by little until I decided to back to my uncles house were I was staying. Luckily there wasn’t much traffic at the time because on the drive back the discomfort started to turn into a very extreme pain. By the time I arrived at my uncle’s house I knew what I was dealing with… I had a kidney stone.
This wasn’t the first time I had a kidney stone, so I kind of knew the drill, I started drinking some water, and took some pain medication. In the past it was a moderate to severe pain that would take me maybe a couple of hours to pass the stone, but not today. After a couple of hours with the pain it wasn’t slowing down one bit. I started vomiting every drink of water I took and it was getting very hard to breath with the pain, and I was getting very lightheaded, but the worst thing was that I started to worry about the fact that I might have to go to the hospital, and unfortunately like many other Hispanics and immigrants in the US… I have no Health Insurance.

At this point I didn’t know what to do, my wife was starting to getting very worried and was insisting to get me to the hospital, but I didn’t even know where I could even go, I wasn’t even in any condition to drive, my wife didn’t know her way around LA and my uncle and aunt were at work. So I decided to call Gilberto Cota who was a fellow UCLA IMG Program participant at the time and told him what was happening, he was actually at the UCLA Les Kelley Family Health Center at that time and immediately talked to Dr. Bholat who told me to get down there and they would see what they could do.

When you’re the type of person who doesn’t like to worry or bother your family and friends with your problems, it’s very hard to be completely helpless at a situation like this, where everyone around you is worried and scared of what might happen, so I tried to pretend everything was going to be fine as long as I could, but it got to a point that the pain was so unbearable that I couldn’t even stand.
Thank God that my aunt got there quick and she and my wife took me to UCLA Les Kelley Family Health Center where Gilberto was waiting for me. He immediately took me inside and everyone there was quick to my aid, and I mean everyone from the nursing staff, doctors and of course my fellow IMG’s who waited with my wife outside and kept calming her down saying everything was going to be all right. And surely in the end it was.

It took me a couple weeks to fully recover but all my family and friends from the UCLA IMG program kept in touch with me making sure I was recovering well back in Tijuana.

After this I realized that even when you’re in what you believe to be a horrible situation, it just takes your family, friends and good human beings to turn it all around.

Note: Photo above belongs to dissolve. It was modified by Victor Castilla M.D. under a Creative Commons License.

Web Sites an International Medical Graduate Must Know about

If you have decided that your goal is to become a doctor and to practice medicine as a physician in the US. Now it is time to start reading a lot. It could sound weird what I wrote above, but it is true that in The United States of America there are a lot of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) that are not practicing medicine for many different reasons. Many IMGs are working in jobs not related with the medical field. Some of them have no idea of what to do to practice medicine here.

The process is not simple at all. It is a little complicated, and you can think that it is impossible, but no. You have to read a lot and get informed about the process. You have to get as much information as you can.

First of all visit the official sites. We created this page for IMGs. Sources of information like the internet, forums, groups, blogs, friends, colleages, are really important. You have to keep reading and keep asking questions once and again until you find the answer you are looking for.

One of the reasons people do not reach their goal here is because of disinformation. we have to ask as much as we can (please do it). If you do not understand something: ask. You have to be hundred percent sure about each little step that you are going to take in order to become a doctor in the US. Something really useful is to find someone from your university who has passed for this process before.

As I mentioned, it is important to ask. This is paramount for your success. You have the internet as a source of information, but even with that lot of people do not know how to use it properly, and the amount of information that exist about the process of getting into the medical specialty is huge. You can drawn on it.

We will be sharing what we know about the process. We will give as much tips as we can. But keep in mind that your active participation is what will define your success. Share what you know and make as much friends as you can. The process is really hard in a country where you know nobody and nobody knows you. Let's get together in this journey to the Residency in the US.

Official Websites you have to know about:

ECFMG
USMLE
ERAS
FREIDA
NRMP
Medical Board of California

Do not forget "The seemingly impossible is possible" (Hans Rosling)

Note: photo above belongs to violator3. It was modified by Victor Castilla M.D. under a creative commons license.

International Medical Graduate Dilemma: Where to Start?

Doing a medical specialty like for example Family Medicine in the US it is not simple. I mean to be accepted into a residency program. There are lot of new terms to learn (ECFMG, ERAS, NRMP, FREIDA, USCE, Observership, transcripts, Dean's letter, PTAL , etc). There is a lot of paper work to do also. Challenging things like to get hand on experiences in the US. Passing really difficult tests (like USMLE Step 1). And many other things that, for you sure, you have to learn and to understand before you can be accepted into a medical residency program. On top of all that you have to have money. And of course, I almost forget, yes you need to know English too. In summary I would say that it is not easy at all, but not impossible. You will have to do one of your biggest efforts to reach this goal, if this is what you really want.

But, where to start? This is one of the most common questions International Medical Graudates ask. In my opinion, the first thing to do, it is to define your goal. Do you really want to become a doctor in the US, or not? Are you 100% sure you want to leave your country where you are already a doctor who can practice medicine, to move to the US and practice medicine here.

I am luckily connected with many of my medical school classmates, some of them are practicing medicine in my country (Peru). Others are in Spain doing their specialties in first, second, third year. A small group is here in the US (Virginia, Michigan, Texas, Philadelphia and Indiana). I always talk and ask questions to all of them. I have learned from them that it is not the same to prepare for a specialty in Peru than in the US or in Spain, each process is different. It is because of that I believe you have to define with 100% security if you want or not to do your medical specialty in the US. You will have to gather all your energies and focus in only one goal to succeed.

The participants from the UCLA International Medical (IMG) Graduate have created this site to share our many different experiences and point of views about this process. We will like to have your feedback and opinions. Please share with us any question you could have.