Examination outcomes for international medical graduates pursuing or completing family medicine residency training in Quebec.

Objective: To review the success of international medical graduates (IMGs) who are pursuing or have completed a Quebec residency training program and examinations.

Design: We retrospectively reviewed IMGs' success rates on the pre-residency Collège des médecins du Québec medical clinical sciences written examination and objective structured clinical examination, as well as on the post-residency Certification Examination in Family Medicine.

Setting: Quebec.

Participants: All IMGs taking their examinations between 2001 and 2008, inclusive, and Canadian and American graduates taking their examinations during this same period.

Main Outcome Measures: Success rates for IMGs on the pre-residency and post-residency examinations, compared with success rates for Canadian and American graduates.

Results: Success rates on the pre-residency clinical examinations remained below 50% from 2001 to 2008 for IMGs. Similarly, during the same period, the average success rate on the Certification examination was 56.0% for IMGs, compared with 93.5% for Canadian and American medical graduates.

Conclusion: Despite pre-residency competency screening and in-program orientation and supports, a substantial number of IMGs in Quebec are not passing their Certification examinations. Another study is under way to analyze reasons for some IMGs' lack of success and to find ways to help IMGs complete residency training successfully and pass the Certification examination.