I have anxiety as I can't get a medical licence, can't get a residency, and can't get a job

Question

My career failure has left me with anxiety, and although I have taught myself to live a fuller life and focus on the positive, there is a void that haunts me perennially. I practiced medicine (MD, ObGyn) in India and then we moved to US (after a second marriage). I wasn't legally allowed to work with out a visa sponsor ship (until 2015). I successfully passed all USMLE exams and even got to volunteer with physicians to gain clinical experience. I started applying for residency in 2007. However, in spite of few interviews, I didn't match. So I don't have a license to practice. With 2 kids and single income, money was tight. I couldn't study any thing else because we had to save for my residency applications, which I am still applying for even in 2015. Unfortunately, during 2009 my husband lost his job during recession and we had to foreclose our home. Moving back to our country was not an easy, doable option for several reasons. In spite of all hurdles, my husband managed to pay ($40k) for my MPH (graduated 2015). I have been applying for jobs in public health but for most lower positions, I am stated to be 'too qualified' and for the suitable positions, I either don't have an active license or enough experience to lead. It's very hard to cope with rejects from public health field too. With kids in college now (and additional cost of education) and not much to do, I have anxiety 24/7 and a constant feeling of worthlessness, but I am not suicidal. Social media does more harm than good when I see my classmates doing well in their career.

Answer 1

Dear Dr. SD,

I'm sorry to hear of your difficulties with obtaining a medical residency in the States. For International Medical Graduates (IMGs), you have to apply for residencies that are not competitive with U.S. medical school graduates. The reality for IMGs is that you will not match into a residency slot if you have to compete with a U.S. medical school graduate for that same spot.

IMGs then are left to apply for the residency slots that the U.S. graduates do not fill. I'm assuming you had applied for residency positions in OB/Gyn, your medical specialty in India. Unfortunately, OB/Gyn is a competitive residency, and this will be mostly filled by U.S. graduates, and only by the most accomplished and dazzling IMGs that can even compete with them. Unfortunately, almost all of the procedure-oriented specialties will be very competitive, and your chances for matching into these slots are virtually nil.

So what's an unmatched IMG to do? Well, you have to play the numbers, and you may have to consider other medical specialties, which means throwing out your medical specialty training and experience of choice. If you look at the numbers, the residencies that have the most unfilled residency slots each year include the following specialties: family medicine and psychiatry. Family medicine and psychiatry residencies are frequently left with an abundance of unfilled residency slots. This is because U.S. graduates do not find these two specialties appealing, and this is in large part due to low compensation, low prestige, and in psychiatry's case, it being viewed as a pseudoscience.

So if you want to have a better chance of matching into a U.S. medical residency as an IMG, then you have to consider applying for both family medicine and psychiatry residencies. To relieve your anxiety and stress, may I suggest you visit the rest of AnxietyBoss.com.

Regards,
Dr. Carlo