Another go at the experiment

Public Health Rep. 1995 Nov-Dec;110(6):668-73.

Abstract

A number of states have experimented with legislation that would allow unlicensed international medical graduates to become physician assistants. These attempts have failed. The authors conducted a pilot evaluation study in California in response to legislative efforts. They examined the medical knowledge of a group of unlicensed international medical graduates and compared their clinical skills with those of a control group of recent graduates from a physician assistant training program. The unlicensed international medical graduates were below standard in medical knowledge and clinical skills and failed to make critical diagnoses in the tests with standardized patients. The authors conclude that unlicensed international medical graduates need additional training to be incorporated into the U.S. health care system as physician assistants.

MeSH terms

  • California
  • Clinical Competence*
  • Foreign Medical Graduates* / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Foreign Medical Graduates* / standards
  • Humans
  • Licensure, Medical / legislation & jurisprudence*
  • Licensure, Medical / standards
  • Physician Assistants / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Physician Assistants / standards*
  • Pilot Projects
  • United States