Exploring and Comparing Needs of International and US Medical Graduates in US Health Care

This web-based survey aims to examine and compare the needs of international medical graduates (IMGs) and their US peers. A comprehensive literature review was conducted, and sample topics and questions were pulled from other papers that had been previously published. For the survey, the topics focused on communication in the workplace, both amongst colleagues and between physicians and patients, and the trainings medical graduates received as they began their practice in the United States. The survey was branched into two parts depending on where your medical education was completed with roughly 25 questions in each survey. The goal after analyzing the results is to see what area IMGs and US graduates still struggle with and how to better assist their transition to practice. The survey was recently finalized and will be sent out via email to practicing physicians in the US via two local and national list serves in the following days, so there is no data to report as of the time of this writing. Based on preliminary testing conducted on IMG colleagues and the literature review, we expect IMGs to have the most difficulty in areas of communication and relationship building, both with patients and fellow staff members.