Issue 134 - December 11, 2008
Please Take This Brief Survey on a Potential New ECFMG Service for Physicians
The Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) is exploring the possibility of offering a new service to physicians that would allow them to establish an electronic portfolio of primary-source verified medical education credentials. At this time, we would like your assistance in gauging interest in this service.
Physicians using this service would submit copies of their credentials (medical diploma, medical school transcripts, postgraduate training certificates, and certificates of registration/licensure) to ECFMG. ECFMG would then primary-source verify these credentials by communicating directly with officials of the issuing institutions. Verified credentials would become part of the physician’s portfolio, and ECFMG would verify these credentials to medical regulatory, training, and other authorities worldwide, as requested by the physician.
This service offers physicians the important benefit of having their credentials primary-source verified by the issuing institutions in advance of the physicians applying to medical regulatory, training, and other authorities worldwide. Because credentials would be stored in a centralized location, physicians would be able to request to have verification of their credentials sent to employers, hospitals, and others quickly and conveniently.
This service would be useful for physicians who have a need to demonstrate the authenticity of their credentials; for physicians who may move from one place to another, from city to city or country to country; and for physicians who want the convenience and security of having copies of their verified credentials housed in a secure, centralized location.
Given the global movement of physicians and the increased need to demonstrate authenticity of credentials, ECFMG believes there may be a need for this service for medical education credentials and, perhaps, other documents. To help ECFMG determine the need for this service, we ask that, if you are an international medical student or graduate, you complete a short survey. The following link will take you to the survey, which will only take a minute to complete. The survey results are anonymous and will in no way affect your ECFMG status.
We thank you in advance for helping us to develop new services that meet the needs of international physicians.