# Training International Medical Graduate Internal Medicine Residents in Pelvic Examinations and Pap Smears

## TL;DR

This study shows that a specialized clinic can effectively train international medical graduates in performing pelvic exams and Pap smears.

## Contribution

The study introduces a reproducible educational model for training IMG residents in women's health procedures.

## Key findings

- The Women’s Health Clinic improved IMG residents' self-reported competence in pelvic exams and Pap smears.
- The model combines didactic teaching with supervised patient interactions for effective skill reinforcement.

## Abstract

Nearly 39% of Internal Medicine (IM) residents in American training programs are international medical graduates (IMGs), whose prior training in women’s health is variable. There is a paucity of data about women’s health training programs that train IMG IM residents in pelvic examinations/Pap smears.

To train IMG IM residents to competently perform pelvic examinations/Pap smears.

Montefiore Wakefield IM residency clinic, Bronx NY.

IMG categorical IM residents.

In 2015, we established the Women’s Health Clinic (WHC) to train residents in pelvic examinations/Pap smears. The educational model includes one hour of didactics followed by trainees seeing up to four patients, supervised by WHC faculty in 1:2 preceptor to resident ratio.

We evaluated the impact of WHC on IMG residents’ self-reported competence in performing pelvic examinations/Pap smears by using McNemar’s test to compare self-reported competence in pelvic examinations and Pap smears before and after WHC participation.

WHC improved self-reported competence among IMG residents by utilizing standardized didactics reinforced through immediate and repeated patient interactions. It is an educational model that could be reproduced by other IM programs to improve training for IMG residents.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11606-025-09446-1.