A fellowship program to advance teaching of the basic sciences in foreign medical schools.

Advancement in world health requires physicians who are well grounded in the basic medical sciences. To strengthen education in the biosciences in foreign medical schools, especially those in economically deprived countries, the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates introduced a fellowship program in 1983. Awards are made annually to 12 to 14 foreign bioscience teachers who, under tutelage of preceptors in US medical schools, broaden their knowledge and enhance their pedagogical skills. To date, a total of 97 fellows from 69 schools in 32 countries have received awards to study under 69 preceptors in 52 US schools. Assurance that these foreign teachers return home after their 1-year fellowships has been addressed through a number of incentives and safeguards. Based on information from those who have completed their fellowships and from their foreign deans, this program is meeting its objectives.

Report on the survey of international activities of U.S. health professions schools.

The Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates recently undertook a survey of all accredited U.S. schools of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and public health to determine each school's domestic and foreign participation in international education, research, administration, and health care. The response rate was good, especially for schools of medicine, with 125 (98%) of 127 schools providing information. The resulting directory, published in July 1988, lists 494 programs involving 84 countries: 319 in medicine, 44 in dentistry, 30 in pharmacy, and 101 in public health. Directors, titles and objectives of programs are listed, along with descriptions of areas of emphasis, types of affiliation, personnel involved, and sources of funding. International involvement of the schools was unevenly distributed: about 16% of the medical and public health schools and 6% of the dental and pharmacy schools accounted for half of the international programs in each of these four disciplines. Schools of public health had the largest mean number of international programs per school, followed by schools of medicine. The majority of programs emphasized education and research; lesser numbers were in administration and health care. The majority of programs were in developing countries, the People's Republic of China, and Mexico, together accounting for 19% of the programs listed. In addition to providing needed aggregate and individual information on programs in international health, the directory may serve as a basis for planning by students, scholars, and institutions.

United States citizens studying medicine abroad. Their backgrounds and test performance.

To acquire information about the characteristics of U.S. citizens who had recently studied medicine abroad, the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) and the Association of American Medical Colleges merged independently collected data on a study group of 10,460 U.S. citizens who attended 359 medical schools in 75 foreign countries and who took their first ECFMG examination between 1978 and 1982. The study group was markedly heterogeneous: 21 percent were not U.S. citizens at birth, 32 percent did not have English as a native language, and 12 percent had two or more years of undergraduate college education in Puerto Rico. Sixty-seven percent resided in New York, New Jersey, California, Florida, or Puerto Rico, and 74 percent studied medicine in Mexico or the Caribbean. Forty-six percent passed the ECFMG examination on their first attempt, and 22 percent passed a subsequent examination. Only 45 percent had applied to a U.S. medical school, and 65 percent had taken the Medical College Admission Test. The means of the college grade-point averages, known for 39 percent of the study group, and of the scores on the admission test, known for 65 percent, were lower than those of both accepted and unaccepted applicants to U.S. medical schools in the 1976 and 1978 entering classes. The finding that 55 percent of the study group did not apply to a U.S. medical school does not support the widely held belief that most, if not all, U.S. citizens who attend foreign medical schools do so only after several unsuccessful attempts to gain admission to a U.S. school.