A combination of "environmental factors" in the U.S. has led to an increased demand for health care professionals. However, there has been a significant decrease in the number of U.S. medical graduates selecting careers in family medicine and general internal medicine, thus driving demand for international medical graduates. At the heart of our national workforce policy needs to be good domesti...

BACKGROUND Primary care physicians have been shown to play an important role in the general health of the communities in which they serve. In spite of their importance, however, there has been a decrease in the number of physicians interested in pursuing primary care fields, while the proportion of specialists continues to increase. The prediction of an overall physician shortage only augments ...

BACKGROUND IMGs constitute about a third of the United States (US) internal medicine graduates. US residency training programs face challenges in selection of IMGs with varied background features. However data on this topic is limited. We analyzed whether any pre-selection characteristics of IMG residents in our internal medicine program are associated with selected outcomes, namely competency ...

Mounting evidence supports the need for more primary care physicians to care for an expanding, aging, and insured population. The U.S. primary care physician workforce is composed of graduates from both domestic and international medical schools. Trends in training, recruitment, and practice have policy and ethical implications. We used the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile to e...

OBJECTIVE  To determine whether patient outcomes differ between general internists who graduated from a medical school outside the United States and those who graduated from a US medical school. DESIGN  Observational study. SETTING  Medicare, USA. PARTICIPANTS  20% national sample of data for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged 65 years or older admitted to hospital with a medical...

BACKGROUND Interest in global health and international mission trips among medical student and resident trainees is growing rapidly. How these electives and international mission experiences affect future practice is still being elucidated. No study has identified if participation in international surgical missions during residency is a predictor of participation in international surgical missi...