Wang Yiming, Das Rajkumar Luke Vijendra, Lapa Tatiana, Marosan Peter, Pawliuk Rosemary, Chable Heidi D, Lake Deidre, Lofters Aisha
Medical Genetics and Genomics Residency Program, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada.
Division of Clinical and Metabolic Genetics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON Canada.
Humanit Soc Sci Commun. 2023;10(1):38. doi: 10.1057/s41599-023-01534-z. Epub 2023 Jan 30.
With limited residency positions, the majority of international medical graduates living in Canada and other developed countries cannot work as physicians. The educational experience and career development of unmatched international medical graduates (those who are not matched to a residency position) residing in Canada have never been studied. Through an innovative collaboration of provincial international medical graduate organizations, we launched an online survey targeting the career development of unmatched international medical graduates, with 356 survey responses entering data analysis. Respondents reported that at the early career planning stage, close to a third had not had adequate knowledge of their career prospects in Canada. Although official resources are available, most respondents found that the information did not match well with reality. After arriving in Canada, educational resources for unmatched international medical graduates are scarce. The majority of them work in healthcare-related fields but reported significant difficulties finding these positions, and there were limited career training opportunities. Among respondents who were no longer pursuing residency positions and had moved on to alternate career paths, we found, unexpectedly, that 69% of them reported previous residency application experience did not contribute to their current occupation, and most were not satisfied with their current career status and continuing education opportunities. In conclusion, the unmatched international medical graduates could serve as a vital reservoir of skilled medical professionals to serve the community, especially during public health crises. Continuing education and career support of unmatched international medical graduates are crucial for their career development and should be an area of priority for policymakers. Career support, especially for alternative career paths, can be built on the current services that exist in most provinces in Canada. In addition, novel online and social media tools can be utilized to increase the outreach of these programs.
由于住院医师职位有限，大多数居住在加拿大和其他发达国家的国际医学毕业生无法从事医生工作。居住在加拿大的未匹配国际医学毕业生（即未获得住院医师职位匹配的毕业生）的教育经历和职业发展从未得到过研究。通过省级国际医学毕业生组织的创新合作，我们开展了一项针对未匹配国际医学毕业生职业发展的在线调查，共有356份调查问卷进入数据分析阶段。受访者表示，在职业规划初期，近三分之一的人对自己在加拿大的职业前景了解不足。虽然有官方资源可用，但大多数受访者发现这些信息与现实不太相符。抵达加拿大后，未匹配的国际医学毕业生的教育资源稀缺。他们中的大多数人在医疗相关领域工作，但表示找到这些职位存在很大困难，而且职业培训机会有限。在那些不再寻求住院医师职位并转向其他职业道路的受访者中，我们意外地发现，69%的人表示之前的住院医师申请经历对他们目前的职业没有帮助，而且大多数人对自己目前的职业状况和继续教育机会不满意。总之，未匹配的国际医学毕业生可以成为服务社区的重要技术医疗专业人才储备库，尤其是在公共卫生危机期间。对未匹配的国际医学毕业生进行继续教育和职业支持对他们的职业发展至关重要，应该成为政策制定者的优先关注领域。职业支持，特别是针对其他职业道路的支持，可以建立在加拿大大多数省份现有的服务基础上。此外，可以利用新颖的在线和社交媒体工具来扩大这些项目的覆盖面。
