Effective Clinical Externships for International Medical Students: A Qualitative Study

Background

International student exchanges are a significant part of medical education, and experiences of North American and European medical students abroad have been extensively examined. By contrast, knowledge of visiting medical students in the United States (US) is limited largely to surveys of administrators and course directors.

Objective

To understand US attending physicians’ thoughts on visiting international student clinical externships.

Design and Participants

Three clinician-educator physician focus groups were conducted across two US medical schools with broad representation of training backgrounds, clinical disciplines, and career stages. Focus groups and constant comparison analysis of transcripts were performed iteratively to identify emerging themes.

Main Measures

Qualitative themes and subthemes.

Key Results

Two main themes emerged from the data: (1) administrative requirements for success: hosting international students requires careful planning and coordination, which is daunting amidst demanding faculty responsibilities. Externships must address experiences of the people directly involved in the clinical setting, leadership, communication, and institutional, financial, physical, and personnel resources. (2) Impact of student qualities: When working with international students, the importance of administrative details and student characteristics increases due to higher student variability overall, inconsistent language and cultural fluency, and the consequent recognition of the student as an ambassador for their home institution and country.

Conclusions

Amidst already busy schedules, clinician educators identify the hosting of international medical students as a commitment resembling that for their own trainees. Linguistic and cultural distances, and the overall variability of international students amplify the importance of effective administration. The findings have influenced related processes at the University of Pittsburgh.