Thanks alot eben28, and success in your part 1 mb.

didigor:

Hello doctors. Am a 500l med student and am considering writing USMLE exams. I want to know 1.can i do that while still a student?  2.how do i go about it, registartion and all? Thanks

tpia@:

^^interesting info.

do you know anyone who took usmle as a med student?

just curious.

I know a number of my classmates who wrote (and really scattered) USMLE while we were in medical school, i think 300Level or 400Level, so its very possible. In a way its even better then because a lot of stuff is still fresh in your head. So Didigor, go ahead, settle down and write it, wish you  all the best,

Hello I'm a med student who will soon be through with med school.
Just wanted to be cleared on somethings
1. I hear going abroad for residency now can be tough. So please is it worth the stress and effort or is it better if its done here.
2. Does a consultant trained in America have an edge over one trained in Nigeria if they are to practice in Nigeria.
3. Please which countries abroad are easier to go for residency and what is the advantage of the US and UK over these countries

Please does anyone know wat the complete pay package is for flight surgeons (new medical officers) that enlist into the nigerian airforce. I've heard all sorts of numders and frankly I don't know wat to believe. Please anyone with concrete info should help out.

I am 38 weeks pregnant, and i have serious cough. I have complained to my doc. and he recommended ampliclox but i have not seen any improvement, doctors in the house what else can i use?

@beneli,
Words cannot express how helpful you have been on this forum. I have particularly found your posts highly informative. Through them, I know stuffs I didn't know before. Keep it up!
If you don't mind, I have a few questions I'd like to ask about that relate to my career path. Currently, I'm about to finish my 4th year of medical school (4th of 6 years) and hopefully looking forward to graduating w/ an EU-approved MD degree. I am a very patriotic Nigerian and would love to practice back home. But unfortunately, whenever I go back for summer clinical hands-on practice, my disdain for our poorly-equipped hospitals (at least in the North where I live) grows. And the conditions in which the medical team works is, to put it lightly, appalling! So, I've decided not to go back home immediately until I've tried other countries for better exposure during my residency and early medical career. I'm aware of the requirement for getting a place in the UK (PLAB) and the USA (USMLE steps 1-3) and USA is atop my list now. But I have other back-ups like Germany, Sweden etc (I'm also aware of their language requirements). (Recruitment agencies actually come to our school promising us heaven on earth should we decide to work in Western Europe, albeit w/ the language deficit)
For someone w/ a wealth of exposure I'd be very grateful if you could give answers to these questions that are bugging me:
1. On a scale of 1-10, w/ 10 being an absolute guarantee, what are my chances of getting into a residency into the UK immediately I finish from here, assuming I fulfill all requirements (PLAB etc). I'm a bit jittery cuz I have friends here w/ a UK passport but even they complain of how competitive the UK has lately been.
2. The same for USA, let's say I get 240+ in the USMLEs (wishful thinking!)
3. Would you advise someone like me to even consider going to the UK? I hear getting in there is becoming harder by the day. (I neither have a UK or an EU passport)
4. Do you think or know of any NGOs that are interested in residents?
5. I have not decided on where I want to specialise yet. But so far I'm considering a specialisation in internal medicine.( I may change my mind later though, Lol )
Any help would be highly appreciated. I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you so much.
P.S: Is it possible to get your email so that I can ask other questions I may have? I will understand if you don't want to and respect your privacy. Even communication here can help others that may have similar questions.

^^

‘I am a very patriotic Nigerian and would love to practice back home. But unfortunately, whenever I go back for summer clinical hands-on practice, my disdain for our poorly-equipped hospitals (at least in the North where I live) grows. And the conditions in which the medical team works is, to put it lightly, appalling! So, I've decided not to go back home immediately until I've tried other countries for better exposure during my residency and early medical career.’

You said some very interesting things up there. I think your decision to try to get better exposure at the beginning of your medical career is a very pragmatic one.  I too was filled with a lot of naivety ‘patriotism’ when i finished medical school and returned to Nigeria, but this made me to eventually waste nearly 8 years of my life and career!

You can say that’s why i am interested in preventing others from making the same mistakes . . .

Now let’s try to address your questions. It’s a lot of information, so i will break it down into 2 – 3 posts to beat the spambot:

1. On a scale of 1-10, w/ 10 being an absolute guarantee, what are my chances of getting into a residency into the UK immediately I finish from here, assuming I fulfil all requirements (PLAB etc). I'm a bit jittery cuz I have friends here w/ a UK passport but even they complain of how competitive the UK has lately been.

On a scale of 1 – 10 I would put your chances of getting into a residency programme in the UK, immediately you finish, at less than 4!

The truth is that it’s become extremely difficult for Overseas Doctors to get into training programmes (residencies) in the UK these days. This trend started sometime around 2005 – 2006 when recruitment into the training programmes became centralised. Prior to this the different NHS trusts handled their own recruitment, and as a result of that, overseas doctors found it easier to get posts in the hospitals where they would have done a period of clinical attachment.

You see, the clinical attachment not only offered you exposure to how things are done in UK hospitals and your expected competencies as a junior Doctor, it also gave you the opportunity to get a UK Consultant to act as your referee, who would also sometimes sponsor your application to join their hospital. At least that’s how i . . . and a lot of guys i know . . . got my foot into the door here. Now everything is based on the ‘strength’ of the application alone – this would include things like what your visa status is, whether you are believed to be of the right ‘cultural mix’ etc . . . 

For a lot of overseas doctors, the truth is that their applications lack the required ‘strength’.  When they do get the interviews, their ‘cultural mix’ - the way they look, sound etc – don’t always work for them, unfortunately!

However, overseas doctors are still occasionally offered non-training posts, which leads nowhere career-wise . . . 


2. The same for USA, let's say I get 240+ in the USMLEs (wishful thinking!)

Getting 240 in the step 1 is not wishful thinking, if you give yourself 1 - 2 years to prepare - especially seeing that you’ve not too long finished the ‘basic sciences’.

Some useful resources that you may wish to explore if you consider going down the USMLE route include the following online tools;

i) Dr Najeed lectures. This includes over 400 hours of online lectures tailored specifically for the USMLE. You may find it useful for the rest of your training as well.  It’s of course not free, but people say it’s worth every cent spent. He has about 30 hours free lectures that gives a taste of the quality of material. http://drnajeeblectures.com/

ii) USMLE WORLD – this site is a very useful preparation resource for the USMLE. It’s made up of question banks for th different steps of the USMLE. This gives you a flavour of the level of knowledge expected for the different steps of the exam. http://www.usmleworld.com/

iii) The USMLE First Aid series are like your USMLE bibles!

iv) The various usmle online forums, like http://www.usmleforum.com/


You can actually get into Internal Medicine and similar specialties with less than 240 though. 220 is still considered a reasonably competitive score.

@messi: u can check Dr Ben's reply here:

www.nairaland.com/nigeria?action=profile;u=94261;sa=showPosts

@beneli et al: any advice for:

www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-881153.0.html

and lollyefisi?

^

I see that I have my posting priviledges back - this spambot thing na wa o!

Let me try to post the rest of my response to Dr Messiah . . . If it doesn't show then it'll mean that the spambot struck again!

@ Dr Messiah

This is a continuation of my response to your questions.

3. Would you advise someone like me to even consider going to the UK? I hear getting in there is becoming harder by the day. (I neither have a UK or an EU passport).

Not really to be honest . . . not if you want to get into a residency programme. I have already given some of the reasons in response to #1. I would focus on North America, if i were you . . .

4. Do you think or know of any NGOs that are interested in residents?

I don’t know any NGO’s that are interested in residents.

There are a lot of NGO’s out there though. Health-related NGO’s have clearly defined areas of interests, ranging from infectious diseases, maternal and child health, refugees and post war situations, public health etc. You may consider browsing the unjobs website – just google unjobs - to see what they have going. This would allow you to tailor your skills set to their needs, if that is a route you wish to explore.

If you do wish to explore this route, I would try to do some volunteering work during my holidays with any of the international NGO’s. I suspect that some may have such opportunities, usually referred to as ‘internships’. This option can open up new career opportunities for you, which you probably would not have initially contemplated.

P.S: Is it possible to get your email so that I can ask other questions I may have? I will understand if you don't want to and respect your privacy. Even communication here can help others that may have similar questions.

My ‘official’ email is elias underscore beneli at yahoo dot co dot uk, but it’s one that i rarely access these days. So if you were to send me an email there, you may not get a reply for weeks . . . whereas i am almost addicted to nairaland - spambot and all - and hardly a day goes by without my visiting the damned site. . !

All the best!

@beneli,
Thank you once again for such a prompt and detailed response. It was highly informative and very useful. To be honest, I've never been the type interested in practising in the UK. I'd rather go to Sweden for example, take the trouble to learn the language, and practice there for some time. I just lately started asking questions about the UK because many of the consultants that bothered to forget about their junior doctors for once and paid any attention to us (medical students) had some training there and paid glowing tributes to it. Most likely, they never saw other parts of Western Europe and thus don't know that UK isn't the only country w/ an outstanding health care system.
Anyway, my heart has always been w/ the US albeit w/ it's complex health care system and all. I've already started preparing for the USMLE step 1. In fact, I own a couple of preparatory materials [the so-called Board Review Series (BRS) and High-Yield (HY) books]. I also have some Kaplan videos. I've heard of Dr Najeeb before and I've watched a couple of his free lectures on youtube. However, I wanna restrict my preparatory materials to a few. More like talking about quality than quantity.
I had thought that considering the UK might open more options for me, but obviously that seems unlikely.
I don't think having your email is necessary anymore looking at the way you promptly replied. In fact, I prefer it this way as other people can learn a lot from your posts.
I've bookmarked this page for future reference and also to make it easier for me to posts questions that I may have. Hopefully, one day you won't complain about the tonnes of questions I'd be asking you
Thank you and enjoy the rest of your day.

Need a night doctor? I need a night job too. seyioluks@gmail.com / 08056579470. Thanks

USMLE Seminars in Benin.
Global Licensing Medical would like to invite medical students and graduants to its USMLE Step 1 and step 2 seminars holding in Benin, Nigeria from the 30th of April to the 6th of May, 2012. To attend, please register online on www.globallicensingmedical.com; or for more information, email us on info@globallicensingmedical.com; or call +447957956582.

Hi Beneli, nice to see you are still on this thread. Keep up with the good work of being a mentor to our younger colleagues. God bless you for that.

Can anyone help out with hospitals that are advertising housemanship placements at the moment?

One of my Dogs had tick fever from excess ticks infestation, but my Vet Dr. brought out a spray called "Kill Ticks" he claimed to have seen it at a store somewhere in Agege and within 15 seconds sprayed all the ticks DEAD without bathing for the dog, it worked like Magic, Please who has come across this spray?

Hi, Docs!

Hi
I would to like to pose a question to all my senior colleagues on this forum. This is especially for doctors who are abreast of the Nigerian medical system.
Do you feel that the current crop of 'doctors in political power' have failed their generation?
What has life outside Medical School taught you? What would you do if you could re-do Med School?

HI all , i am DR Jeevan from India ,currently running a medical Tourism company . I am At the verge of expanding my Business Into Africa ,hence searching for doctors who Could refer patients to India for their Further Treatment,We assure Cost effective and faster treatment at the best JCI and NABH hospitals In India following international Quality standards . We not only provide treatments but also make arrangements for follow ups through Audio Video conferences Between patient and doctors avoiding Transportation for follow ups .
We have great Business deals for Doctors and Professionals,we even provide our company Franchisee.

If anyone interested can mail me on drjviyala@gmail.com

Thanks ,looking ahead for some great doctor facilitator Relationships

What is happening o? Let's not allow this thread to die off. I had to search hard before finding it. Doctors are supposed to be at the top of the pyramid.*quote me* Our prolonged inactivity doesn't augur well.
Can we stimulate discourse that is benefical to doctors and med students? Any piece of helpful news? Any job offers? Any pertinent questions? Any confused minds.

No-Scrubs.com

Social network for physicians.

Created by physicians, for physicians, we here at No-Scrubs understand the daily demands of our profession and the responsibilities that accompany it. These constraints make it difficult at times to maintain a reliable social network. Our goal is to foster a community of support—professional and social—by introducing you to a network of individuals who understand.

Our social networking experience is available to fourth-year students in both allopathic and osteopathic medical schools, MDs and DOs currently completing residency or fellowship, as well as current and former physicians.

For more visit http://www.no-scrubs.com/

some hospitals are advertising for housemanship and residency programs..... APPLY NOW!!!

Hospitals like:
UNTH, Enugu
NAUTH, Anambra
FMC Abakiliki, Ebonyi....

pls share other adverts.....

^^^ that of unth is just for internship, not sure residency is among

Yeah... Its only NAUTH that advertised for residency for now

anyone aware of any clinic on the mainland that needs a doc on temporary basis for PP purposes. So I can be doing that and getting lil cash while waiting for my housemanship interviews next month. a response would be appreciated. Thanks

^^ Dr Finn, are you allowed to work in private practice with your provisional medical license issued by MDCN? Make dem no catch you o.

Of course I'm. Bigger private hospitasl take interns. Why not d smaller ones. Depends on what the job entails.

Hi Docs in d house! Pls can someone tell me which are d highest paying private hospitals in Lagos. Am about to finish my youth service n frankly I don't want to be stuck in one lowly pp with no career dev. At leat before person start residency(which is a tug of war inn naija) person suppose get change. I know Lagos govt is the highest paying so I nee only private hospitals. Thanks!

Lovly thread,pls guys does anyone have any idea how psychiatry residency is Primaries,getting residency placement and all. Thanks y'all.

@beneli
After passing part 1 plab in Lagos,can someone be giving a visa just for part 2 in UK. What other countries can a doctor with GMC practice apart from England/Uk. What are the average monthly pay for doctors in TT, Grenada, Barbados. I also hear they are some uni courses one can take for 6mths to 1yr in TT or other carribean nations and is equivalent to a US med. Licence. can one get automatic residency spot in SA after PLAB and what is their monthly pay. I will be glad if you can clear the air on these issues.Tks