Clinical training for students of foreign medical schools in US hospitals

The purpose of this 18-month study was to identify hospitals in the United States that offered clinical experiences for students of foreign medical schools and to provide descriptive information on the nature and extent of those experiences. All US hospitals were mailed a postcard survey asking whether clinical training was sponsored for students of foreign medical schools. Those that responded affirmatively, as well as all hospitals that did not respond to the postcard survey, received a booklet questionnaire asking for descriptive information on the educational experiences of the foreign medical school students. As of April 1985, only 166 of the hospitals that completed the booklet questionnaire sponsored clinical training for these students. More than half of those hospitals had a major affiliation with a US medical school, and three fourths sponsored at least one accredited residency program. The foreign schools from which the hospitals most often accepted students were located in Mexico and the Caribbean basin. The foreign medical schools exercised little supervision or control over the students or the quality of the educational experiences provided.