WHAT DOES "TRAINED IN THE USA" MEAN

The gold standard by which one’s training in any specialty is measured by is the stamp “Trained in the USA”. This is the precise reason why in many promotional brochures and websites of individual clinics and medical tourism companies, the phrase “Trained in the USA” is invariably mentioned, pretty much with the same weight as the stamp of “ISO Certified” in non-medical establishments.

Many of these are outright misinformation and border on deceptive advertisement.

In the medical specialty and subspecialty fields, the training in the USA is a very long and arduous process under very strict regulation by national agencies. The umbrella agency is the American Board of Medical Specialties. Any Boards of medical specialty not included in the ABMS list is a bogus board (and there are many in the USA, created as corporations with an incorporation fee of $50).

Because of the very competitive nature of specialty training positions, and because of the drastic changes in the immigration and visa policies of the USA, acquiring the stamp “Trained in the USA” has been very scarce for Philippine professionals. And it has been so since the mid 70’s.

When one sees “Trained in the USA” stamped on any clinic and medical tourism professionals here in the Philippines, and for that matter in Thailand, India and other Asian countries, beware! Chances are it is deceitful and fraudulent.

How can one tell? Simple:
1. Ask the doctor who is going to do the treating where and when did he/she train.
2. Ask to see the certificate of training. If it is less than 5 years (for general surgery and some other specialties), and does not say “Chief Resident” somewhere in the certificate, it’s not valid. It also helps if the certificate is issued in the name of a university medical school. If the certificate is for a super specialty such as Plastic Surgery, the duration of training in the certificate should be stated no less than 2 years. (By the way, training in Plastic Surgery requires previous training in other specialties, most commonly General Surgery).
3. Ask to see the Board Certificate. It will say “American Board of _ _ _ _ _”. Taking and passing any American Specialty Board is a major endeavor and is not for the faint of heart. Some specialists from countries other than the USA elect to go home without taking the American Specialty Board. Nonetheless, these are true “Trained in the USA” just as long as #1 and #2 are satisfied.
4. The crowning glory of these all is the Fellowship Certificate such as “Fellow, American College of Surgeons” (FACS).

[On the next post: In Cosmetic Surgery, what does “USA Board Certified” mean; and what does “FACS” mean]