PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS (INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL GRADUATES)

International Medical Graduates (IMG’s) comprises the Centre’s second largest occupational group, with over 130 members.  The group is engaged in a variety of learning and support activities.

For Group’s schedule please access our CALENDAR.

Study Group for the Medical Council of Canada’s Evaluative Examination (MCC EE)

and Medical Council of Canada’s Qualifying Examination Part 1 (MCC QE1)

The group meets on a regular basis, once or twice a week, at the Centre and/or at other locations on the weekend to review particular medical subjects and to discuss multiple-choice questions and appropriate answers from previous years’ examinations.  Oftentimes, the IMG’s who have previously passed either/both MCC EE or MCC QE1 attend the sessions to facilitate reviews of particularly-challenging medical subjects (for example, Canadian bioethics), to share their insights into the examinations and to provide the students with advice on how to organize the study time, what resources to use in preparation and how to manage the time and questions during the actual examination.

The Centre has an extensive collection of electronic MCC resources with previous years’ examination questions and review lectures from the University of Alberta’s medical school.  The resources are circulated among the members of the support group electronically.

Prior research on the barriers to medical licensure faced by IMG’s has revealed that internationally trained Doctors lack familiarity with and exposure to multiple-choice examinations as compared to Canadian-trained medical graduates.  Also, many IMG’s with many years of work experience have been outside the academic environment for many years and are not always able to use effective studying strategies and manage time well while preparing for the MCC exams.  In response to these challenges, Bredin Institute partners with the Academic Support Centre at the University of Alberta and offers customized workshops on developing studying strategies, managing time before and during the exam and understanding the logic and structure of multiple-choice tests.

Medical Council of Canada’s Qualifying Examination Part 2 (MCC QE 2)

The study group for this exam meets on a regular basis for two months before the examination (MCC QE2 usually takes place in October and May) to review various systems of the human body and the essentials of history-taking and conducting the physical examination, to discuss the clinical cases that are most likely to appear in the exam, and to practice those cases by playing the roles of the physician and the patient.  The Centre’s IMG clients who have previously passed MCC QE2 and current medical residents at the University of Alberta often join the study sessions to provide the “insider’s” perspective into the examination, to facilitate scenario practice and to provide the group with improvement-oriented feedback.

The Centre has accumulated a large number of case descriptions from previous examinations; also, a number of relevant textbooks are available for IMG clients’ use.

Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) – required for entry into the Alberta IMG program:

A study group usually forms three months prior to the examination (the second half of September).  OSCE is very similar in content and structure to MCC QE2.  The group meets several times a week primarily to practice clinical scenarios.  The group members take turns in preparing the content of cases for each session.  Occasionally, the IMG’s who have achieved high OSCE scores in the past and/or those who are currently in residency training are invited for these study sessions to facilitate case practice, to provide feedback and suggestions for improvement and to coach the students on specific strategies for the actual examination.

A number of textbooks and other resources currently used in OSCE preparation (including videos) by Canadian medical schools are available for IMG clients’ use in the Centre or on loan.

Medical Review Lectures

The Centre invites practicing physicians, University of Alberta professors, and medical residents to deliver review lectures on a variety of medical subjects to help our IMG’s better prepare for the MCC examinations.  The presenters also make themselves available for question-and-answer sessions in the end to help IMG’s identify correct answers for the questions that are likely to appear in the MCC examinations.  In the past academic year, such lectures were held at least once a month, either at Bredin Institute or at city hospitals and covered various topics in Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Population Health, Epidemiology, Emergency Medicine, Dermatology, Ophthalmology and Psychiatry.

A number of review lectures are planned for August-September 2006 focusing on the most challenging for IMG’s subject areas in regards to their Canadian context: Bioethics, Population Health and Psychiatry.

Lectures on other specific topics can be arranged by the Centre upon the request from the IMG’s, once they identify particular knowledge needs and gaps through individual study or through group discussions.

Residency Preparation

Applying for medical residency is a very competitive and complex process, and the Centre offers a number of services to help IMG’s strengthen their applications and increase the probability for admission.  Workshops on developing medical Curriculum Vitae’s and personal statements and preparing for medical interviews are offered twice a year for the two residency competition cycles accessible to IMG’s residing in Alberta – Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS, www.carms.ca) and Alberta IMG Program (www.aimg.ca).  Individual Curriculum Vitae - and personal-statement critique consultations are available to IMG’s as a follow-up to the workshop. The Centre also provides residency applicants with the opportunity to practice their interview skills through one-on-one coaching and simulated (“mock”) interviews which can be video-taped upon request.

Representatives from the Alberta IMG Program come to the Centre twice a year – at the beginning of the competition cycle, in June, to provide applicants with the overview of current requirements and the selection process and at the end of the cycle, in January, to debrief the competition process and address the questions from the non-selected applicants.

Licensure Information Sessions

Every year, the Centre invites an Assistant Registrar from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (the provincial regulatory organization responsible for giving doctors the license and right to practice in Alberta) to present information sessions about current requirements and different categories of professional registration (for example, “full medical register,” “part 1,” “part 5,” etc.)

Several of the Centre’s IMG’s have succeeded in obtaining restricted license through the College – in the “part 1,” “part 2,” or “part 5” categories.  They come in to the Centre periodically for mentoring sessions to share their experiences with various application steps and related challenges as well as to provide IMG’s with advice and guidance on pursuing the restricted-licensure route.

Electronic List

The Centre maintains regular communication with all the IMG’s through an electronic list.  Once an IMG registers with the Centre, his/her e-mail address is added to the list and he/she starts receiving updates about Centre’s events, news related to the Canadian healthcare, information about educational, volunteer, and interim employment opportunities, etc.  The list is also used to communicate with separate IMG groups for specific purposes, for example, related to study groups or residency competition.