This is my first post here, so I hope it’s in the appropriate forum and format.
Long story short, I am a current EM resident doing very well during my first year in residency, however for various reasons I’m happy to discuss the specialty is just not scratching my itch the way I hoped it would. I do not see myself pursuing a mainly EM career and was always planning a sports or pain fellowship to eventually work mostly in those settings/procedures. However, even then I do not think I want to live without operating. I have fully committed to switching into ortho and have two avenues to do this. I am a US-IMG who attended medical school in Europe, so I can definitely pick back up where I left off in my Med school country for a good career with decent pay.
Ideally, however, I hope to switch form one US residency to another. My plan is to try to secure an away rotation at a program which has a history of accepting IMG’s and my medical school does have a reasonably robust network of practicing orthopedic surgeons in the US. I am wondering if anyone has ever successfully secured a swap in this way. I have competitive USMLE scores (250s, 250s) and some research not in ortho with plans to start some imminently. I know that the ortho match is absolutely bonkers right now, but this is my dream at this point and I am wondering if there is any shot at all.
Back up plan is that I simply return to my country of medical school where I would absolutely secure a training spot as I did perform well in medical school too and there is no bias against me there as I am a dual citizen.
Anyone of any level of experience who has any advice or just wanting to discuss would be very much appreciated!
