Innovating Medical Education: Preparation for Residency for Refugee Physicians

By Will Nicholson, MD
Preparation for Residency Program Director

In spring of 2010, the University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine and Community Health was asked to develop a first-of-its-kind training program to help refugee physicians get back in to the practice of medicine.

L-R, Khem Adhikari, MBBS, Mahamud Jimale, MD, Will Nicholson, MD, Adalberto Torres-Gorrin, MD, Said Al-Tawil, MBChB

The Preparation for Residency Program (PRP) was the product of a collaboration among the Minnesota State Legislature, University of Minnesota, and Somali Health Professionals Organization.

The Program

Designed to help trainees get the clinical experience necessary to apply for a family medicine residency at the University of Minnesota, training includes exposure to U.S. medical education, three months of a hospital observership, and three months in an ambulatory family medicine clinic.

By the end of program’s first year, three Somali refugee physicians qualified for family medicine residency positions at the University of Minnesota; all three earned spots in the class of 2014.

Media Attention

PRP received a considerable amount of local media attention in August 2011 when its financial support became a casualty of the initial state budget agreement. Funding was later restored.

The Needs

There are estimated to be more than 200 refugee physicians in Minnesota who have not been able to return to practice. Many belong to some of our state’s most underserved communities, and retraining through PRP will help them get back to work in the communities that need them most.

Because of the program’s initial success, we believe PRP may be a viable alternative training pathway to help alleviate the provider shortage in primary care. We showed that it was possible to retrain three physicians in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost that it would have taken to send them back through medical school.

Learn More

Visit www.fm.umn.edu/education/prp or contact Will Nicholson, MD, wnichols@umn.edu.

Will Nicholson, MD, is a graduate of the University of Minnesota St. John’s Hospital Family Medicine Residency. He currently works as a hospitalist at St. John’s and advocates for health care reform. Follow him at www.triagepolitics.com.