Asad Rahman: Few tips to make the observership experience better for IMGs

Asad Rahman, Gastroenterologist at Cleveland Clinic, Florida, shared on X:

“Observerships offer valuable experience for international medical graduates who did not do elective rotations during medical school when applying for ERAS residency.

Here are a few tips to make the observership experience better for IMGs.

– Ensure that you get all the documentation updated prior to the beginning of your rotation.

– Introduce yourself ahead of time with your preceptor and request if there are any particular resources or reading material that can make your experience more beneficial.

– Always be on time! Be the first to show up on the day and do not ask to leave early unless there is an emergency.

– Dress professionally. Avoid scrubs unless you are in procedural areas for the most of the day.

– If you are part of a teaching service with trainees (residents/fellows), ask them if there is anything you can do to contribute to the team. This can be reading up on a topic for a small presentation at the end of the day or helping them in communication with other teams.

– Ask residents or fellows about their didactic sessions and try your best to attend those sessions.

-Aim to be an active participant in those didactic sessions but maintain humility.

– Be courteous to everyone in the clinical rotation (attendings, residents/fellows/medical students/other learners, rotation coordinators, nursing and ancillary staff and especially patients ).

– Show keen interest in patients that you are observing. For example, do not do practice exam questions or use your cellphone while you are observing clinical care of patients with your attending in clinic or during procedures.

– Be a sponge to absorb knowledge that you will gain not only during formal teaching by your preceptor while seeing patients but also while observing the way you see all caregivers interact with patients.

-If you have a question, write it down and find the right time to ask this during a break or at the end of the day. You can also volunteer to do a small 2 minute presentation on an interesting topic pertinent to a patient that you saw with the attending if time allows.

– Ask for feedback about how to improve your experience midway through the rotation. If there are specific areas to improve, work hard to demonstrate that you took the feedback well and implemented changes.

– Be grateful for the opportunity. The majority of preceptors do this voluntarily. They do not get paid for this and also do not get additional time to teach during this time.

– Thank the rotation coordinators for their help in administrative processing. It makes a difference!

– Request a letter of recommendation at the end of the rotation and not at the beginning. It is recommended that you send your resume at the same time to help the letter writer. Your rapport during your rotation would determine the strength of your letter.

– Getting a letter is not implied when you get a rotation approved and if you do not do well during this time, you may not get a letter from the preceptor or get a weak letter of recommendation that can hurt your chances for residency application.

This certainly is not an exhaustive list of recommendations but probably a good starting point. Good luck!!”

Source: Asad Rahman/X