School offers nursing program for IMGs

Florida International University targets medical graduates to help address the state's nursing shortage.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. April 28, 2003.

Roland Cabrera wanted to be a doctor. Now he hopes to be a nurse.

Cabrera took some of his first steps in this country when he arrived from Cuba at age 2. Since then, his journey has been characterized by persistence. He graduated from medical school in the Dominican Republic in 1995 and applied for family practice residencies in 2000 and 2001. But he was never hired.

"I was a little disappointed that I didn't match, but I focused on what I needed to do next," he said.

Now he's a substitute teacher by day and a nursing student in the evenings and on weekends.

Cabrera is one of 40 students in an accelerated nursing program for international medical graduates at Florida International University. The program is believed to be the first of its kind in the United States.

School officials said Cuban-American physicians requested the program, though it's open to any IMG. The state's nursing shortage prompted four local hospitals to help finance the idea. They are contributing a total of $600,000 for faculty salaries and a significant part of student tuition as well. Graduates also are likely to be offered jobs at these hospitals.

Practicing physicians, including IMGs who have obtained U.S. medical licenses, say the program has the potential to ease the nursing shortage and increase the number of culturally competent health care professionals in South Florida.

George Thomas, MD, a Sarasota cardiologist and past chair of the American Medical Association's International Medical Graduate Section, said that although he was unfamiliar with the program's specifics, it sounded like it would work well for patients and students alike.