Are American Med Students Better than International Med Students?

Kendra Campbell, MD, Psychiatry/Mental Health, 07:56PM Oct 20, 2010
A medical student recently asked me the above question during their rotation with me. He specifically wanted to know if I noticed a difference in the quality of medical students, based on the school they attended. This is a question, which I considered when deciding to attend an international medical school, and is one, which I also pondered during my medical education. As a medical student, I interacted with both "American" medical students and foreign/international ones.

As a resident, I have now interacted with a variety of medical students. I've worked with students who are from U.S. medical schools, and ones who are from international medical schools. While my anecdotal evidence might not hold that much water, I can now say, with complete confidence, that the medical school which a student attends has little correlational value with their performance on clinical rotations. I obviously cannot speak to their board scores, or any other parameters. But when it comes to general knowledge, patient rapport, clinical skills, and overall performance, I've determined that it's more about the student and less about the school.

While this post started out as a discussion about AMGs (American Medical Graduates) versus IMGs (International Medical Graduates), I would like to change gears and give some general tips to medical students from the perspective of a resident. And for the record, while the resident might not be the one to ultimately grade the student (although we do have input), in my experience we are in the unique position of interacting with the students more than the attending. Sometimes we even do more of the teaching. Anyway, here are some tips, which I can provide based on my experience:

1. Be motivated to learn. Even if you are not planning on going into the specialty in which you are rotating, your motivation level speaks volumes about you as a student, and you as a future doctor.

2. Ask many questions. Asking questions shows that you are interested in learning, and will ultimately make you a better physician. (See #1.)

3. Know your patient. Since medical students generally have a lighter patient load, you have the potential to know each patient that you cover even better than the attending or resident might. I promise that nothing impresses the attendings and residents more than a med student who offers a piece of information about the patient, which was unknown to them.

4. Listen, read, and read. If you want to impress your attending and resident (and ultimately be a better prepared doctor), listen to what they teach you. Try to pay attention to what they emphasize as being important, and read up on pertinent subjects in your "free" time. You are in the hospital/clinic/etc. to learn. Take advantage of this opportunity in every way you can, and follow-up on all discussions with researching/reading in your time away from the hospital.

5. Anticipate what needs to be done and do it. Nothing will make your resident (and attending) happier than to find out that you completed the discharge paperwork for them because you knew the patient was going to be discharged that day. Have the consults sheets, CT requests, doctor's orders forms, etc. ready when you anticipate that they are required. Seriously, this is key! And I can't emphasize enough how happy this makes the residents!

So, that's my two cents on how to be an effective medical student, who will ultimately grow into an effective resident, and physician, no matter which med school you attended. But are these strategies and competencies specific to the med school one attends? I'd love to hear what you think.