The American Association of Medical Colleges predicts a significant physician shortage by as many as 90,000 doctors in 2020. To meet this challenge, nationwide, new medical schools have emerged and existing medical schools are expanding class sizes. As the director of 3rd and 4th year internal medicine student training at VCU, the educational challenges of increased student numbers are well known to me. Providing more learners with quality training, direct patient care experience and meaningful physician-educator mentorship is not logistically simple.
So it was with interest that I read a recent article about medical schools in New York State fighting the inflow of Caribbean medical students. The campaign aims to persuade the State Board of Regents to make it very hard for foreign schools to use New York hospitals as extensions of their own campuses. This is not insignificant as Caribbean medical schools have attracted thousands of Americans over the year. As most Caribbean medical schools lack large teaching hospitals, many students will complete their clinical training in the USA. The argument against Caribbean medical schools is that they are for profit entities, with lower quality students, who compete for clinical training slots by handsomely paying hospitals to take their students (US medical schools pay nothing as hospitals and medical schools are typically ‘partners in prestige’).
Many health care challenges are ahead, including ensuring access to all, containing costs and training more physicians to curb the projected doctor shortage so as to meet the needs of an aging population.
If you are a Caribbean medical student, your career may sail against the changing tide of medical education, at least in New York,
If you are a Caribbean medical student, your career may sail against the changing tide of medical education, at least in New York,
