What is the best medical school in St Kitts and Nevis to study in?

Answer 1

Very different answers for St Kitts and Nevis.

St Kitts boasts a collection of medical schools, the bulk of which are either very new (have not had graduating classes) or which are typically considered "second tier" or worse. On St Kitts the school of St Theresa's appears to be closing; there were fewer than a dozen students as of Summer term 2008. The "internet" university does not appear to have ever placed a student in American clinicals, and doesn't seem to have any graduates practicing in the United States. Windsor is a functioning second tier medical school with some clinical rotations in the states and a few graduates. It is often considered a bargain (it's one of the cheapest schools in the Caribbean for both tuition and room and board) and has a reputation as being one of the easiest school to graduate from. It's a good for mediocre students who have connections in the states to do their clinical training. IMHS is a very new school started by the folks who started Ross (the established school in Dominica). It is very new, doesn't have clinicals, doesn't have all faculty hired (as of Summer term 2008) and has no accreditations at this point. It does have a very nice facility and an experienced ownership, but it's anybody's guess whether or not it will pan out. Typically, the first five years of new offshore medical school tend to be a little dicey. There are actually other schools (at least one "phantom" whose purpose and operation is a mystery and one or two other schools that have been approved by never acted upon), but probably these shouldn't be taken seriously.

In contrast to St Kitts, which has allowed the chartering of numerous medical schools, Nevis has only a single medical school which was started at the request of the government. The government approached the operators of Saba's medical school (which has long been considered one of the "big 3" Caribbean medical schools) to open a similar school on Nevis. MUA has been in operation since about 2001, and has been graduating students (meaning having passed BOTH Basic Science AND Clinicals) who have been getting genuine residencies and licensed in many states in the US. MUA has been accredited by New York and has provisional ACCM accreditation (a big deal), and places students entirely in "greenbook" clinical rotations (this is a significant concern-- placing medical students in non-greenbook approved rotations means that graduates cannot be licensed in many states and are ineligible for many residency programs-- this is an important topic that you should look at if you are considering a non-US medical school). MUA graduates are doing residencies in everything from neurosurgery to emergency medicine and are getting licensed. The school has accreditations, access to a loan program, a real campus, cadavers in the gross anatomy lab, a solid and experienced faculty (including professors who have previously taught in American medical schools), a real library, and students passing the USMLE on the first attempt.

At the present time, none of the schools in St Kitts can be said to come close.