SETBACKS ARE STEPPING STONES

“Your setbacks are momentary, don’t get trapped; Stay focused.”


I am from India, and my year of graduation is 2007. After 2007, I did post-graduation in a pre-clinical subject, Anatomy, from 2009 to 2012. After MD Anatomy, I finished DNB in 2014, which is just an exam. Apparently, I did nothing clinical since 2007 other than one year of post-PG government service.
I moved to Pennsylvania, the US, in 2014. Honestly, it took me a while to decide about USMLE. I was not ready for it as I was engaged in teaching Anatomy. I had no intentions to do USMLE then. But when I saw my family physician working, I got positively influenced by the specialty of family medicine, and my heart urged me to become a physician. This specialty of family medicine compelled me to go for USMLE. And here I was, now preparing for Step 1. Till then, I was working here at the University as a Lecturer. Yes, teaching is good in between, but ultimately, we all want to pursue a career as a physician after graduating. Don't we? Therefore, I was trying to become one, again after all these years, since 2014.
To crack Step 1, it took me two years as I had other family responsibilities to take care of and a few personal issues. I eventually overcame all of them and did my Step 1 in 2018. Further, I was not able to finish Step 2 CK for Match 2019. In 2020, I applied for Match with a complete application but unfortunately couldn't Match. I had only one interview. Finally, 2021 happens to be my year as I also joined USMLE Sarthi, and I pre-matched. Sarthi team helped me a lot to Match, and I cannot thank them enough.

Apart from my challenges, like starting a family and relocating to the US from India, my accent was also a challenge. So, when I began preparing for USMLE in 2016, my teaching at University helped me overcome the accent's challenge. I started teaching non – medical students intentionally. Being from a medical background, we all are very used to and very well acquainted with medical terminology. To break down the medicine into simple language, teaching non – medical students came out very handy and helpful, which helped me improve my accent and communication skills.

I stay in Pennsylvania. Here they don't give you hands-on experience. I had to try to get observership somehow, and I knew I would have to work out on this in some or another way. So, I asked my family physician and my child's pediatrician to let me do observership which both of them agreed on. While working as a teacher, I learned that the nursing school head's spouse is a doctor. I got connected to him through the nursing school head and did my observership under his mentorship. You see, when you find all doors closed, you ought to find the key to open the right door that works for you.

When I did not make it to NRMP in 2019, I realized and decided that I need more clinical experience and need to do it along with my Step 2 CK. I finished my ECFMG certification & got my rotation done. All of them were in family medicine, one of them was out-patient, and the rest were inpatients. These rotations gave me an idea of how does residency programs work. I did the rotations in different places, like Chicago, Florida, etc. I kept on moving around to reflect my flexibility, that being married or a mother, I'm not confined to work only in Pennsylvania. Having a child and moving around in different cities for rotation was quite a task. Eventually, I overcame this tenure, and my family understood that I need to go out if I have to become a full-time physician. Doing rotations in different cities gave me exposure to different environments and honed my people management skills. But only one interview last year was quite disheartening. From all these setbacks, I learned few key things to crack the Match:

• You must work on improving your accent/communication skills
• Improve your networking skills as well, which will help you at the time of rotations and interviews also
• Get as much hands-on experience as you can

The above were the main hurdles I faced as an old IMG, and I worked hard on improving them. Being an old graduate, Step 3 is the one that was a game-changer. I had not done Step 3 last year before applying for the residency programs. But this year, before the application is submitted, I made sure to have my Step 3 score ready.
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And this time, I decided to join the Sarthi team that helped me in many ways. Sarthi team helped me with many small things that we often overlook and think to be insignificant, like, how your personal statement & CV should look like. Their strategy to prepare you for the interview is just what we IMGs are looking out for. By the time I was to appear for an interview this time, I had gained the confidence as if I already knew everything beforehand. I strongly advise IMGs going through the same phase that I went through, of being an old IMG – never lose hopes and give up just because of a few setbacks. Never let them become your weakness and overpower you at a crucial stage of the Match. In the interview, show the residency programs your dedication to your specialty, and your deep interest in pursuing your specialty will be reflected. Be focused, honest, and dedicated towards the specialty you are interested in. That's how you can make a difference during the interview and crack the Match successfully.  

Dr. Bharati NIkhare