NY 12 weeks Clerkship Rule

Clinical Clerkships/ Core Clerkships are the compulsory ward rotations that you do in your 3rd year of medical school. These include all the basic compulsory ward rotations of general specialties like Medicine, Surgery, Gynae-Obs, Paeds etc.... when you do your clerkships you don't have any prior clinical experience. Visit the following link for its detailed description. Almost all medical universities require clinical clerkship rotation(s) as part of a medical education degree requirement.

Some universities do not have affiliate hospitals (where you complete your clerkships) in their country and thus, their students have to travel outside the country for completion of their clinical clerkship rotation(s)(for example most of the medical schools in Caribbean). According to the NYSED rule, if you completed more than 12 weeks of clinical clerkships outside the country in which your medical school is located, you are not eligible to undertake residency training in NY.

However, there are few "approved" medical schools/programs by the NYS Education Department; medical students/ graduates of these schools/programs can do clinical clerkships for more than 12 weeks, outside the county of their medical school and this NYSED rule would not apply on them.(I assume most of the Caribbean Medical Schools like Ross, St George etc. fall under this category.)

The New York State Department of Health regulation (Section 10, NYCRR - 405) only applies if the clinical clerkship rotation(s) is counted as part of a medical education degree requirement (as "voluntary" "extra-mural electives" that we do in US, is not a part of medical education degree requirement in almost all South Asian medical schools; hence electives don't fall under this category of compulsory clerkships). If these rotations are less than 12 weeks, this regulation is not applicable towards your residency application in NYS.  NYS has no provision to grant any waivers regarding this requirement. 

This regulation applies only if you complete clinical clerkships for more than 12 weeks, outside country of your medical school and these clerkships are a mandatory requirement by your medical school, for graduation(like internship is a mandatory requirement before graduation in most of medical schools in India).

Visit the following link for the official reference of the 12 weeks rule.

Special thanks to Purav Mody for clearing all the doubts regarding the NY rule from the NYS Department of Health regarding residency training in NYS and then updating us.

Some related questions and their replies according to our understanding of the rule:

1.) It is mentioned that no more than 12 weeks of clinical clerkships should be done outside the country of your home school. I wanted to know is this 12 weeks duration specific for clerkships done in NY state or is applicable to all clerkships done outside the country of your home school irrespective of whether they are done in NY state or not.

Ans: It is for all clerkships done outside country, not necessarily in NY, (But remember what clerkship is and clerkship is a mandatory requirement for graduation.)

2.) For a clerkship to be counted it has to be officially mentioned in the transcript? If it is not mentioned is it still counted?

Ans: Yes! If you did not take clerkships for credits, they are not considered. (If your transcript mentions all the rotations that you were credited for and are a part of your medical degree requirement.)

3.) Is duration of Observerships/Externships also counted towards this 12 weeks?

Ans: No

4.) If a foreign medical graduate has already completed more than 12 weeks of clinical clerkships out of country of medical school, is there any way that he/she can still be able to apply for a residency in New York State by fulfilling any other requirement?

Ans: No

5.) I have done more than 12 weeks of clinical clerkship outside the country of my home school and it was done during my final year. However, these clerkships are not essential requirement for medical degree in my medical school and I was considered absent/on leave for electives, during this period. As this was not a essential requirement to my medical degree, I can safely consider myself eligible for residency training in NY State?

Ans: Yes