Abstract
The heterogeneity in the cultural, linguistic, and medical educational background of international medical graduate (IMG) physicians in psychiatry poses significant challenges in assessing their training needs. This chapter addresses the complex determination of training needs and their recommended solutions. To that end, inter-group differences within the IMG physician spectrum are discussed, with an emphasis on the imperatives within each culture. The recent literature on training needs for IMG physicians was reviewed and the following needs were identified as most relevant (in descending order): communication and language skills, medical/pharmacologic knowledge, dealing with social isolation, other acculturation issues, adequacy of supervision, psychosocial/patient management focus, cultural diversity training, understanding the health care systems, understanding the hospital culture, and medical documentation. This chapter highlights the role of psychotherapy training as an acculturative experience, along with the importance of a program development paradigm for needs evaluation and training implementation. Specific recommendations will be listed to assist training directors and IMG physicians in this crucial training area.
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Rao, N.R., Mehra, A., Kramer, M. (2016). Training Needs of International Medical Graduate Physicians in Psychiatry: A Perspective. In: Rao, N., Roberts, L. (eds) International Medical Graduate Physicians. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39460-2_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39460-2_21
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