Career development of international medical graduates in Canada: status of the unmatched

Yiming Wang; Rajkumar Luke Vijendra Das; Tatiana Lapa; Peter Marosan; Rosemary Pawliuk; Heidi D Chable; Deidre Lake; Aisha Lofters

doi:10.1057/s41599-023-01534-z

Career development of international medical graduates in Canada: status of the unmatched

Humanit Soc Sci Commun. 2023;10(1):38. doi: 10.1057/s41599-023-01534-z. Epub 2023 Jan 30.

Authors

Yiming Wang^{1

2

3

4}, Rajkumar Luke Vijendra Das^{4

5}, Tatiana Lapa⁴, Peter Marosan⁴, Rosemary Pawliuk⁶, Heidi D Chable⁷, Deidre Lake⁸, Aisha Lofters^{9

10

11}

Affiliations

¹ Medical Genetics and Genomics Residency Program, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada.
² Division of Clinical and Metabolic Genetics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON Canada.
³ Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON Canada.
⁴ Association of International Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, Toronto, ON Canada.
⁵ Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC Canada.
⁶ Society of Canadians Studying Medicine Abroad, Langley, BC Canada.
⁷ Association of International Medical Doctors of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC Canada.
⁸ Alberta International Medical Graduates Association, Calgary, AB Canada.
⁹ Women's College Hospital, Toronto, ON Canada.
¹⁰ Department of Family & Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada.
¹¹ Dana Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Education; Health humanities.