Foreign and United States medical graduates in practice. A follow-up.

A 9-year follow-up study of a national probability sample (n = 865) of foreign medical graduates (FMGs) and United States medical graduates (USMGs) who were house officers in United States hospitals in 1973-1974 reveals that more than three fourths of the alien FMGs were located in the United States in 1983. FMGs were distributed disproportionately across United States census regions (P less than 0.001), specialty areas (P = 0.071), and type of position (P = 0.059). Neither the switching of specialty areas nor the changing among United States census regions was significantly different for FMGs and USMGs. Census regions with net gains of FMGs over the 9-year period included the Pacific, South Atlantic, and West South Central regions, areas with either proportionately higher 1973-1974 USMG concentrations or net USMG gains. The results suggest a gradual assimilation of FMGs into the American medical system from an initial position different than that of USMGs.