Foreign Medical Schools Online

Discussion in 'Nursing and medical-related degrees' started by Alpine, Sep 9, 2022.

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  1. Alpine

    Alpine Active Member

    Foreign medical schools offer online training to become a physician. Because of the Covid pandemic, many US schools were offering online studies to their students. I'm not sure how well-recognized or accepted foreign medical schools are that have online learning.
    St. George University in Grenada. Cost $$$$ Adapting to Online Medical School Classes at SGU
    IUHS in St. Kitts $$ https://www.iuhs.edu
    Oceania in Samoa $$$ Home - Oceania University of Medicine (oum.edu.ws)
    Hills College of Medicine in Vanuatu $ Hills College of Medicine (MBBS/MD Program) (hillsmedicine.org)

    Perhaps there are others but not convinced the US or Canadian authorities would accept such degrees.
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2022
  2. Alpine

    Alpine Active Member

    Sorry, thread should be moved to nursing, medical.
     
    chrisjm18 likes this.
  3. AsianStew

    AsianStew Moderator Staff Member

  4. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Interestingly, I've heard a lot of medical students and physicians say they actually skipped most of their lectures and self-studied since they could absorb the material faster on their own time. I thought that was interesting, and it does suggest that the basic sciences can be taught in a more asynchronous fashion.
     
  5. Alpine

    Alpine Active Member

    I didn't get the impression that the price reflected the "entire program." It sounds like the price per year. Especially, since it mentions a lower price for the longer program. If OUM's entire program is $39K, please advise because that is a bargain!
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2022
  6. Alpine

    Alpine Active Member

    I think the real issue is about convincing the government boards that license medical graduates that the basic science portion conducted online is comparable to in-class. It may not be an issue since many US medical schools had online basic sciences during the pandemic.
     
  7. Alpine

    Alpine Active Member

    The good news is that Hills College graduates can practice in Vanuatu. On the flip side, the bad news is that Hills College graduates, basically practice in Vanuatu.
     
  8. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    True - I read their site. And you have to make trips to Vanuatu - do 10-14 days there before each clinical rotation. That's expensive. More bad news:

    Average salary of physicians in Vanuatu - $25,941 US annually. (3,085, 500 VUV)
    Range: $13, 503 US annually (1,606,100 VUV) to $39,640 US annually (4,714,900 VUV)

    Source: https://worldsalaries.com/average-doctor-salary-in-vanuatu

    First degree forum I ever joined was on Vanuatu. I was a moderator. (really.) Pay was lousy there, too. But no worse than DI, from what I hear. :)
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2022
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  9. Garp

    Garp Well-Known Member

    To my knowledge OUM is definitely not cheap unless there is a discount for poor countries. US and Aussie students will pay well into the six figures. I seem to recall it was around 160 thousand to two hundred thousand with no student loans. Doesn't include travel to sites. They have agreements with some US hospitals for rotations.

    I believe St. James School of Medicine is the least expensive in that area.

    Keep in mind that you already are at a deficit with Caribbean medical schools. St. George and Ross are well known commodities. The lower down the rung the harder it gets to obtain residencies.

    The other big complaint is that SOME of these Caribbean medical schools have almost open admission and so beginning classes are large but they know they will fail you out or you will drop out. Those that make it and pass Step exams are a much smaller group. And then you have a battle for residency. You won't be going for things like plastic surgery but specialties like Family Medicine and Pediatrics.

    https://www.sjsm.org/onlinemd/
     
  10. Garp

    Garp Well-Known Member

    Saint James comparison chart. Lower price likely comes with higher risk.
    Regardless of where you are at if you drop out or fail out or cannot get residency, you owe the money without the degree utility (and there are a few sad stories of unmatched Caribbean medical school grads). Only hope then is for Uncle Joe to write off your loans.
    upload_2022-9-9_22-23-47.png
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2022
  11. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Do you have to ship the cadaver back after graduation, or is that yours to keep?
     
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  12. Alpine

    Alpine Active Member

  13. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    I've been patiently watching how this is unfolding. I have seen some med students mention this flexibility being more of a thing now because of what's happened, but I haven't been able to nail down just how far-reaching it is with many students having returned to traditional classrooms.

    I'd never heard of Hills before this thread, but IUHS and the other two have been doing this for a while now, St. George the longest - they've been in business since the 70s but may only recently have been doing online programs. IUHS does have a number of licensed Doctors working in the United States and in other countries. With licensing, for years one of the challenges here in the states has been the rule many have had against any part of medical education being done online. Not all states carry that, but enough have had it to make it a challenge for a number of online med school grads. Some have simply taken up clinicals and residencies (when achieved) in states that don't have this restriction. That has sometimes meant having to pack up and move to another state to live, but I suppose if you want to be a Medical Doctor badly enough you'll do it.
     
  14. Alpine

    Alpine Active Member

    According to this article, Physician Assistant school has become more competitive than medical school in terms of acceptance rates for admission. Physician Assistant Acceptance Rates in the US in 2022 | BeMo® (bemoacademicconsulting.com)

    Getting accepted to an MD or DO school is extremely competitive so it is no wonder many pre-med students consider foreign medical schools. It would be interesting to see if PA school admission has become so competitive because of lower costs, faster time to practice, easier than medical school, good salaries, lower GPA, scores on MCAT, no desire to go to a foreign medical school, all of the above? I admit the foreign medical school looks appealing, especially if the basic sciences are online but as LearningAddict mentioned, the ability to get a license in the States may be problematic. Unless someone graduates High School with the intent of becoming an NP, the path looks longer than the PA program for older adults that already hold a degree. RN with a BSN to an NP with a DNP which is 6 to 8 years of schooling instead of the 2-year Masters in PA studies (MPAS). The MPAS seems doable for those with a BS and some pre-requisite coursework compared to the challenges of going to a foreign medical school and faster than the NP. Perhaps these factors add to the competitiveness in acceptance to PA school?
     
  15. JoshD

    JoshD Well-Known Member

    My brother is an ER Physician and I remember him telling me that he would watch the lectures and place it on 2x speed instead of going to the actual class. He said it allowed him to better retain the information and skip through things that were not important.
     
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  16. JoshD

    JoshD Well-Known Member

    A few buddies of mine are PAs and they said the driving factor for them was the fact that they would not be pigeon-holed into a specialty. If you go to medical school, you do residency in your specialty. Get tired of it? You either change careers, retire, or do another residency program. PAs can switch so long as they have folks who want them.
     
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  17. Alpine

    Alpine Active Member

  18. Alpine

    Alpine Active Member

    I had to go to google maps to figure out where Vanuatu was located.
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2022
  19. Alpine

    Alpine Active Member

    Here is an accredited online school in St. Louis, MO that offers a 20-month Masters in Medical Sciences that prepares one to enter medical school. Get Your Master's Of Medical Sciences Online In Only 20 Months (psm.edu)
    Their main campus is located in Ponce, Puerto Rico. This pathway seems like a great way to enter into the healthcare profession especially, for non-science undergraduate degree holders, and have a good shot at entering US graduate health programs like MD, DO , DPM, DDS, AuD, PharmD, etc. It would be great if the degree actually counted toward the first year of medical school at Ponce school of medicine (A U.S. medical school).
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2022
  20. Alpine

    Alpine Active Member

    Last edited: Sep 10, 2022

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