Not much to report on over the last week. I completed counter threat training, which was almost like an awesome summer camp where you get taught life saving skills and how to drive a car in a ton of really fun scenarios. As someone who loves to drive, it was an absolute blast being able to practice drift control, ram other cars, and perform serpent maneuvers.

Recently, a reader reached out to me with several questions about joining the Foreign Service as a provider, with particular focus on the details of the job itself. Here is a summary of the Q&A:

1.  How long is the orientation in DC? 

– roughly 3 months.  We get about 6 weeks of general orientation with everyone onboarding with the Foreign Service, and then another 6 weeks of more focused training, mostly for the Bureau of Medical Services, but there’s some other things like leadership training as well. This all assumes orientation will continue to be combined with Generalists and Specialists.

2.  How long is language training?

-We do not get formal language training as part of our job requirements.  Our patient population is exclusively diplomats, their families, and locally employed staff that speak English.  Each post does have free language classes you are welcome to take, and the Foreign Service Institute offers some online crash courses to help you get by.

3.  Are translators available for medical appointments?

-Yes, but again we don’t get language training and don’t need it for patient care.  Each health unit at an embassy/consulate will have a local nurse and some other local staff that speak the language and act as a bridge for us and the local community.  One of our functions is medical diplomacy and touring host country medical facilities that we might refer our patients to in case of emergency.  If going on a tour, our local nurse will be with us to bridge the language barrier.  

4.  Are assignments two years in length?

-Pretty much.  When you first join, you will do two “directed tours”, each two years in length.  Directed tour, means they pretty much tell you where you are going.  After those two tours you will have a lot more input in where you go and a lot of posts will be 3 years in length.  Usually, tougher posts in more austere environments will be 2 years.  Posts in traditionally more western type countries will be 3 years.  There are options to extend if you love a particular posting, but it’s usually easier to pull that off in tougher posts versus a place like London.   There are also some domestic assignments available periodically.  

5.  Are you able to decline an assignment?

-Technically, we are “Worldwide Available” so it is possible to go to a place you don’t want to go.  That said, they do take your considerations into account and it seems to be very rare to be forced into an assignment you are against.  I will say though, that even the most difficult posts on the surface can turn to some of the most rewarding and enjoyable.

6.  Do you know how busy the medical clinics are and whether you work with a team of healthcare professionals?

-“It depends” (get ready to hear that for the rest of your FS career).   The biggest embassies in poorer locales or those with difficult to navigate healthcare systems seem to have the busiest panel of patients.  Even when I say “busy”, it seems to be 15 patients a day at most, so if coming from the private sector, it will likely feel like a vacation.  Embassies in smaller countries you might be lucky to see 15 patients in a week.  Remember though, it’s not all patient care.  Providers will often supervise a region of several countries and will do site visits, sometimes see a panel while visiting, and also need to tour medical facilities in host countries to make sure they are adequate for our diplomats.  There’s also a lot of community health work and teaching involved, plus managing the day to day of a health unit.

Hopefully this information proves useful to you. My family made it to town this weekend, and I have quite a bit planned with them over the next week. Hope everyone is staying safe out there! –Nick