Geographic Trends of International Medical Graduate Residents and Faculty in US Plastic Surgery Training Programs.

Abstract

Of the academic plastic surgeons in the United States, 13.6% are international medical graduates (IMGs). The objective of this study was to identify the countries from which IMGs obtained their medical degrees and the states they matched in. We sought to establish a correlation between IMG faculty and residents in plastic surgery programs. Plastic surgery program Web sites were reviewed. The primary outcome of interest was the country IMG residents had obtained their medical degrees from. Secondary outcomes of interest were program state location, IMG resident postgraduate year, and programs' number of IMG faculty. One hundred one programs were screened. A total of 39 states were represented; there were 1262 current residents, of which 92 (7.3%) were IMGs. International medical graduate residents received their medical degrees from 46 different countries. The most common countries were England (n = 6 [6.5%]) for IMG residents and Canada (24.5%) for IMG faculty. The most common region represented for residents was South America (n = 44 [47.8%]). The highest proportions of IMGs per total state plastic surgery residents were found in West Virginia (33.3%) and Minnesota (25%); 13.5% and 15.6% of program directors and program chairs were IMGs, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the proportion of IMG residents in programs that had an IMG program director versus programs with no IMG program director (P = 0.016). No such statistically significant difference was found between the proportion of IMG residents in given programs with IMG chairs (P = 0.55). There were significantly more IMG faculty in programs with IMG chairs (P = 0.001). The number of IMG faculty was positively correlated to the number of IMG residents in a given program (P = 0.0001, r = 0.39). International medical graduate residents constitute a small but appreciable portion of current plastic surgery residents; the majority have earned their degrees from the South America region. International medical graduate plastic surgery residents are more likely to be recruited to programs that have an IMG program director and a higher number of IMG faculty. International medical graduate faculty have a strong representation in academic plastic surgery, as evidenced by the percentage of IMG program directors and chairs. Programs with IMG chairs had a greater number of IMG faculty.