Perspectives on screening and interviewing international medical graduates for psychiatric residency training programs

The authors have found that international medical graduates (IMGs) constitute a valuable pool of applicants for residency training. The wide variation in their medical educations, prior careers, and cultural backgrounds requires a special approach to screening and interviewing IMGs. The authors share techniques and viewpoints developed in their program to screen applicants about their autobiographical statements, medical credentials, reference letters, and visa and immigration statuses. Interviewing guidelines that are sensitive to the applicant's career phase and that assess the person's interest in psychiatry, communication skills, character, acculturation, family context, and suitability for the specific residency program are presented.