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Coronavirus (COVID-19)

International Medical Graduate Physician Deaths From COVID-19 in the United States

Educational Objective
To identify the key insights or developments described in this article

1 Credit CME

JAMA Network Open

Published Online: June 11, 2021

Research Letter

Article Information and Disclosures

Deendayal Dinakarpandian, MD, PhD, MS¹;

Katherine J. Sullivan, PhD²;

Sonoo Thadaney-Israni, MBA¹;

John Norcini, PhD³;

Abraham Verghese, MD¹

Author Affiliations

¹Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California
²Department of Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora
³Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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With more than 26 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 400 000 deaths by February 2021, the US has the largest reported disease burden in the world.¹ Physicians are among the many who have died of this infection. International medical graduates (IMGs) constitute 25% of practicing physicians in the US and often practice in locations and specialties less preferred by US medical graduates (USMGs).² We report on physician mortality from COVID-19, and on mortality of IMGs in particular.

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Article Information

Accepted for Publication: April 15, 2021.

Published: June 11, 2021. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.13418

Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License. © 2021 Dinakarpandian D et al. JAMA Network Open.

Corresponding Author: Abraham Verghese, MD, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Dr, S-102, Stanford, CA 94305-5110 (abrahamv@stanford.edu).

Author Contributions: Drs Verghese and Dinakarpandian had full access to all of the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: Dinakarpandian, Sullivan, Thadaney-Israni, Verghese.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Dinakarpandian, Sullivan, Thadaney-Israni, Norcini.

Drafting of the manuscript: Dinakarpandian, Sullivan, Thadaney-Israni, Verghese.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: All authors.

Statistical analysis: Dinakarpandian, Sullivan.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Sullivan.

Supervision: Dinakarpandian, Thadaney-Israni, Verghese.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Ms Thadaney-Israni reported serving on the boards of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (northwestern region) and the Scients Institute and received no funding for that work. Dr Verghese reported publishers royalties from from Simon and Schuster and Knopf Random House; and speaking fees from Leigh Bureau outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

Funding/Support: Drs Sullivan and Israni were supported for this work by funding from the Presence Center at the Stanford School of Medicine and Department of Medicine. The Presence Center was founded and is led by Dr Verghese; Dr Thadaney-Israni is the executive director, and they are both coauthors of this letter.

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The funder, because of the aforementioned roles, had a role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. COVID data tracker. 2020. Updated February 3, 2021. Accessed February 2, 2021. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home

Zaidi Z , Dewan M , Norcini J. International medical graduates: promoting equity and belonging. Acad Med. 2020;95(12S Addressing Harmful Bias and Eliminating Discrimination in Health Professions Learning Environments):S82-S87. doi:10.1097/ACM.0000000000003694 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Stanford University. Does my project need IRB review? Accessed May 6, 2021. https://web.stanford.edu/dept/DoR/compliance/hs/research/documents/FLW-H4%20Does%20My%20Project%20Need%20IRB%20Review%20(002).pdf

Association of American Medical Colleges. Data & reports. Published 2019. Accessed May 3, 2021. https://www.aamc.org/data-reports

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. United States COVID-19 cases and deaths by state over time. 2020. Updated February 3, 2021. Accessed February 2, 2021. https://data.cdc.gov/Case-Surveillance/United-States-COVID-19-Cases-and-Deaths-by-State-o/9mfq-cb36/data

Kursumovic E , Lennane S , Cook TM . Deaths in healthcare workers due to COVID-19: the need for robust data and analysis. Anaesthesia. 2020;75(8):989-992. doi:10.1111/anae.15116 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

AMA CME Accreditation Information

Credit Designation Statement: The American Medical Association designates this Journal-based CME activity activity for a maximum of 1.00  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to:

1.00 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;;
1.00 Self-Assessment points in the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery’s (ABOHNS) Continuing Certification program;
1.00 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;
1.00 Lifelong Learning points in the American Board of Pathology’s (ABPath) Continuing Certification program; and
1.00 CME points in the American Board of Surgery’s (ABS) Continuing Certification program

It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting MOC credit.