International medical graduates: from brain drain to potential gain.

Abstract

The international mobility of healthcare professionals is a well-documented phenomenon that has dynamic effects on global healthcare, labor markets, and the world economy. One aspect of this phenomenon—the movement of international medical graduates (IMGs) to the United States for residency training - is often criticized because of the “brain drain” from their home countries. We propose a different way of looking at this brain drain phenomenon and highlight the beneficial aspects of international physicians obtaining training in the United States and the potential impact such physicians could have on the healthcare systems of their own countries and possibly of the entire world. Immigration of professionals is a blessing in disguise Currently, one in four physicians practicing in the United States is an IMG.1 In recent years, there has been a steady increase in the number of IMGs obtaining medical training positions in residency programs in the United States. In 2015, 3,641 non-US citizen IMGs obtained residency training positions2 as compared to 2010 when 2,881 secured such positions.3 National Residents Matching Program (NRMP) results continue to show that there is a consistent shortage of American medical graduates to fill all the residency positions available annually in the United States.2,3 These results challenge earlier projections that the country would not need any more IMGs by the year 2015.4 Moreover, the shortage of doctors in the United States is likely to continue to encourage IMGs to come to this country in the future. We believe that, with planning, these professionals could be the basis of a ‘brain circulation’ system that would help develop graduate medical education, healthcare infrastructure, and medical research in their home countries, which, in turn, would help to retain and repatriate the next generation of physicians.