UCLA IMG Program

The UCLA International Medical Graduate (IMG) Program is a non-profit educational program for International Medical Graduates who are fluent in both Spanish and English. Located in the Les Kelley UCLA Health Center in Santa Monica, California the IMG Program was created to address health care disparities in California's underserved Hispanic areas.

An International medical graduate is a term used to describe a physician who has graduated from a medical school outside of the country in which he or she intends to practice. One in every four practicing physicians in the United States is an IMG. Generally, the medical school of graduation is one listed in the International Medical Education Directory (or IMED) as accredited by the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research or the World Health Organization. This has been a subject of many medical articles because many of these doctors come from poor countries and as such, some consider this a "brain drain". [Jordan J. Cohen MD. "The role and contributions of IMGs: A U.S. Perspective" "Academic Medicine", Vol 81, No 12/ December 2006 Supplement.] [Dr. Kimberly Hamilton. "The Global Tug-of-war for Health Care Workers" "Migration Policy Institute" December 1, 2004]

Program Objective

In California, Hispanics represent 32% of the population yet only 4% of the physician workforce [AMA Physician Masterfile, 12/2004; California department of Finance] . Further, almost 35% of California's Hispanics reside in medically underserved areas (MUAs) compared to 20% of the total population [California OSHPD, 2006 data.] . To supplement the outreach and pipeline efforts by UCLA and the other California medical schools to train more Hispanic and English/Spanish bilingual physicians, the UCLA Department of Family Medicine (DFM) developed the IMG program to address the state's changing demographics and impending physician shortage. [ [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119793741946235423.html.html?mod=home_health_right Wall Street Journal: UCLA IMG Article] ]

The program seeks to provide bilingual English/Spanish IMGs, who are committed to the care of underserved populations, with a comprehensive program to pass the U.S. Medical Licensing Examinations (USMLE) and compete for Family Medicine Residency program positions in California. The paramount objective of the UCLA IMG Program is to place well-trained family physicians in rural and urban underserved communities. [ [http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/03/03/prsb0303.htm American Medical Association news article] ]

Program Participants

Today the program has participants from Argentina, Belize, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Spain, Mexico and Peru. [ [http://www.uclaimgprogram.org/ IMG Program Participants Website] ]

Program Directors

The program was implemented in 2006 by Patrick Dowling MD, MPH, Chair of the Department of Family Medicine and by Michelle Bholat MD, MPH, Vice Chair of the Department of Family Medicine at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. [ [http://fm.mednet.ucla.edu/IMG/about/about.asp UCLA IMG Program Non Profit Organization] ]

Parts of the Program

* Program A - USMLE Step 1 Preparation - Pasadena, CATime commitment of at least 50 hours per week.The Kaplan Deluxe Program consists of video, live lecture and question banks with the expectation that the USMLE-1 examination is completed within 6 months of starting the program.
* Program B - USMLE Step 2 Clinical Knowledge and Clinical Skils Preparation - Santa Monica/UCLA Medical Center & Orthopaedic Hospital & UCLA Les Kelley Family Health Center (LKFHC)Time commitment of at least 50 hours per week.
* Program C - [http://curriculum.uclaimgprogram.org/#curriculumc/ Observership] Applicants with competitive scores on the USMLE-1 and USMLE-2 CK and CS will be invited to participate in a two-month observorship at the UCLA DFM clinics, as UCLA Les Kelley Family Health Center, the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center & Orthopaedic Hospital, the Mid Valley Comprehensive Health Center (Van Nuys, California) and Olive View-UCLA Medical Center (Sylmar, California).Observorship participant helps a UCLA physician with providing same day services for patients.Time commitment - 6 days a week with some overnight call.Priority will be given to candidates who have attained both the ECFMG certification and PTAL.
* Post observorship participation: Continued participation at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center on a volunteer basis.A letter in support of the applicant to a Family Medicine Residency Program in California will be provided to those who receive outstanding evaluations during Program C.The program also oriented the participants for the ERAS application, a computer application that transmits supporting credentials from a residency applicant to residency program directors electronically ( [http://www.aamc.org/students/eras/ Electronic Residency Application service] ) and the NRMP (Match).

Results

The program helped 2 Spanish speaking IMGs match in 2007. This year, the program helped 7 IMGs match in Family Medicine Residency Programs. [ [http://blog.uclaimgprogram.org/ UCLA IMG Program Participants Blog] ]

Sponsorship

The UCLA IMG Program is funded solely by private sources. [ [http://fm.mednet.ucla.edu/IMG/sponsors/sponsors.asp UCLA IMG Program: Sponsors] ] The financial support the program has received [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2006_August_7/ai_n16610445 BNet.com: Molina Healthcare Donation] ] has supported the continuation of the IMG program. [ [http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/New-America-Alliance-Institute-7569.aspx?RelNum=7569 UCLA Newsroom: New America Alliance Institute Donation] ]

The sponsors of the program are:
* [http://www.calendow.org/Home.aspx California Endowment]
* [http://www.unihealthfoundation.org UniHealth Foundation]
* [http://www.naaonline.org New American Alliance Foundation]
* [http://www.molinahealthcare.com Molina Family Foundation]
* Dean Gerald Levey

References