A Brief History of the Netherlands Antilles by The World Factbook 2007

Resistance by native Caribs prevented colonization on St. Vincent until 1719. Disputed between France and the United Kingdom for most of the 18th century, the island was ceded to the latter in 1783. Between 1960 and 1962, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was a separate administrative unit of the Federation of the West Indies. Autonomy was granted in 1969 and independence in 1979. Read More

The Trinity Advantage - "We are Trinity"

Much thought has gone into the selection of St. Vincent and the Grenadines as the home of Trinity University School of Medicine. There is a long history in St. Vincent of providing quality medical education to individuals aspiring to a career in medicine.

The Milton Cato Memorial Hospital is a bona-fide teaching hospital and through our partnership with that organization and established clinics throughout the island, students at Trinity University will be exposed to clinical medicine throughout the five (5) semesters of instruction on the island.

Required courses in the curriculum including Clinical Applications, Doctor Patient and Society and Introduction to clinical skills and therapeutics will take place at the hospital campus and these courses will be fully integrated with the more traditional foundations of medicine courses (basic sciences) traditionally offered during the first 4 or 5 semesters of medical education.

Teaching Facilities

Trinity University School of Medicine will occupy a brand new facility designed to accommodate the medical school during its start up years. It is a beautiful two story building within a short 10 minute drive to Downtown, 10 minutes to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital - where students will be engaged in clinical applications from the very first semester of the Foundations of Medicine. The site is also a short 10 minute drive from the University Housing Complex where first semester students will be domiciled.

The campus building - will include:

• A 100 seat auditorium
• A state of the art anatomy lab
• General purpose classroom(s), and break out rooms for problem based learning sessions.
• A Learning Resource Center that includes bound reference titles and electronic resources will be available for student use and as a central study hall.
• The administrative and student support services team will be housed in offices within the complex and there will be a cafeteria/food service center serving breakfast and lunch for students and staff.
• In short - the campus during this start up years will serve as a one-stop complex - in a secure and protected location in the heart of the capital city of Kingstown.

As the building nears completion by early summer, we will be providing photographs of the building's exterior and interior spaces. When students arrive in early September to begin their medical studies the "campus" will be completed and ready for occupancy.

Future plans call for the establishment of a comprehensive campus with multiple buildings - auditoria, classroom buildings, learning resource center, campus sports center and administrative offices. Groundbreaking is scheduled to occur by summer 2010 with partial early occupancy set for September 2011 and full occupancy as the final construction for Phase 1 is completed.

Quality Commitment

Goals for the Curriculum
The curriculum reflects the best thinking of our faculty, as informed by national and international trends and experts. Its goals, which are to facilitate the learning of our students, are consistent with the expectations of postgraduate medical educators and licensing and accrediting bodies, and responsive to the public trust. In order to achieve these goals, the faculty and students together establish a mutually supportive learning community--an educational partnership from which both can benefit and to which both must contribute.

The over-arching goal will be the graduation of physicians with the requisite general knowledge, skills, and attitudes to advance to the next stage of their clinical training and to be able to continue to learn and grow as professionals thereafter. Through continued training and focused learning in postgraduate education, they will ultimately acquire the ability to function responsibly and independently as licensed physicians and attain board certification in their chosen specialties. They will be: genuinely devoted to caring for their patients in a scientifically competent, compassionate and humane manner; will be committed to following, and if possible contributing to the advancement of, medical science; and in their areas of work, will be able to function successfully in the diverse roles expected of physicians: those of medical expert, scholar, communicator, collaborator, health advocate, manager, and professional.

Our Approach

At Trinity University School of Medicine , our approach is to mirror the best among US medical curricula and teaching principles!

Faculty Approach

1. The integration of the basic and clinical sciences throughout the 4 semesters of foundations of Medicine, leveraging our relationship with the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital and its clinics on St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
2. Provide students with the skills, knowledge and attitudes they will need to practice patient-centered medicine in the world of tomorrow.
3. The incorporation of and adherence to established learning principles.
4. Seek to constantly improve our curriculum so that it responds to and incorporates changes in medical knowledge and practice.
5. Embrace the values of the medical profession and incorporate those values into our curriculum.

Student Learning Approach

1. Definition of course objectives.
   1. Every course has learning objectives and includes a plan that will guide students through mastery of those objectives.
   2. The utilization of appropriate assessment tools to ensure students meet the required objectives.
   3. Exams that assess student preparation, participation, critical thinking skills and knowledge application.
   4. Evaluation through various formats that assesses each student’s capability to demonstrate problem solving and professionalism.
2. Small Group setting.
   1. Multidisciplinary PBL cases in all courses.
   2. Small group sessions consisting of PBL, laboratories, conferences, seminars, and computer-assisted learning, which complement full class overview lectures.
3. Clinical Exposure
   1. Clinical exposure begins during the first week of medical school and continues through all of the basic sciences semesters.
   2. The development of clinical skills.
   3. Tracking cases throughout the semester that build upon content knowledge being mastered in the basic sciences.
      

Official Recognition, Approvals & Accreditation

Licensure
To practice medicine in the United States, graduates must successfully pass the United States Licensing Examination (USMLE) and be certified by the educational commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG).

United States Licensing Examinations (USMLE)
These tests comprise the USMLE and they assess a student’s ability to apply knowledge, concepts, and principles as well as to demonstrate fundamental patient-centered skills that constitute the basis of safe and effective patient care.

USMLE Step 1 – (taken prior to entering the clinical clerkships – semester 6 at Trinity University School of Medicine)

USMLE Step 2 – (taken after completing 40 weeks of clinical clerkships and prior to the final four months of the medical curriculum)

USMLE Step 3 – (taken prior to the completion of residency training)

ECFMG Certification – in addition to taking the United States Medical Licensing Examinations, students graduating from international medical schools must be certified by the Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG). This certification is required prior to obtaining residency and licensure in the United States.

Curriculum

Semesters 1 and 2
The first year (semesters 1 and 2) centers on normal human structure and function and these are offered as integrated courses of closely related topics – gross anatomy, biochemistry and genetics, cell biology, histology and embryology, neuroscience and physiology along with the Clinical Applications course and the Introduction to Clinical Medicine – Doctor, Patient and Society.

Semesters 3 and 4
During the 2nd year (semesters 3 and 4) the courses are more integrative and advanced as students master the content of host defense and microbial pathogens – microbiology, virology, immunology and mycology. And the bulk of the 2nd year involves mastering the tools for diagnosis and therapy – through in depth study of pathophysiology and Therapeutics 1 and 2 and the continuation of Clinical Applications and the Introduction to Clinical Medicine courses.

Semester 5
The 5th semester is the capstone semester for the foundations of medicine program and as the formal Advanced lntroduction to the Clinical Sciences (AICM). Students are immersed in the tools for diagnosis and therapy and during the 15 weeks they master the clinical skills – techniques for conducting the physical examination, refined diagnostic skills and expanded critical thinking skills demonstrated through oral and written presentations in a patient care setting. The clinical case studies and the exposure to direct patient care and physician interactions represent an important hands-on component of the program. Finally, a full review of the Foundations of Medicine program and formal preparation to sit for the USMLE Step 1 are incorporated into this Advanced Introduction to Clinical Medicine.

Successful completion of the foundations of medicine, the Advanced Introduction to Clinical Medicine and achieving a passing score on the USMLE step 1 leads to the completion of the clinical clerkships.

Years 3 and 4
These represent the clinical clerkships that are devoted to the study of health and disease in the various clinical departments of our affiliated teaching hospitals. During the 75 weeks of clinical medicine, the student must complete six core rotations consisting of either 12 or 6 week blocks - as follows:

*Of these 27 weeks, at least 8 weeks must be an elective in internal medicine and 4 weeks must be an elective in surgery

The order in which clerkships are completed offers flexibility – to enable students to complete electives at the time of their choosing. All cores however must be completed no later than the 4th month of the final year of studies. Following completion of the core rotations, students must prepare for and successfully complete the USMLE Step 2 (CK – clinical knowledge) and (CS – clinical skills) in order to qualify for graduation and proceed to residency training.

Graduation
The Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree is awarded upon successful completion of the Foundations of Medicine curriculum, the Clinical Sciences Clerkships and the USMLE Step 1, USMLE Step 2 (CK) and (CS). The entire program consists of 10 fifteen (15) week semesters (150 weeks).

The foundations of medicine program and the Advanced Introduction to Clinical Medicine will be conducted at the Trinity University School of Medicine campus in Kingstown, St. Vincent & the Grenadines. The 75 weeks of Clinical Clerkships will be offered at ACGME approved clerkships in teaching hospitals affiliated with TUSOM.

Residency Training
Graduating students will register for the National Residency Match Program (NRMP) which is a paired choice system for matching applicants to available residencies that takes place every March. Students train in a residency program for two to five years during which time they sit for the USMLE Step 3. Upon completion of their residency (fellowship) and passing USMLE Step 3, candidate physicians are prepared for licensure.

Hospital Affiliates

Semesters 6 through 10

The clinical clerkships will be conducted on medical campuses in the United States.

Our goal is to establish formal affiliation agreements with ACGME recognition for each of the clerkships offered that will enable a student to complete all core rotations (48 weeks) on a particular campus (location) and many of the required 27 weeks of elective clerkships at the same campus.

Some students may choose to take electives at other locations – in a state where they may wish to eventually practice medicine, at a particular hospital with a strong program in a desired elective or at a hospital being considered for residency training – thus giving the student the advantage of having completed a rotation on site and gained knowledge of key physicians and residents prior to applying for residency.

Our geographical focus in the early years will be in the Northeast, the Mid Atlantic and the South. As the recruitment at Trinity becomes national/international in scope, we will seek additional affiliate hospitals/medical programs in the Midwest, the southwest, the far West and the Southeast.

The key commitment to our students is as follows: All clerkships - required and elective - will be conducted in the US at hospitals with ACGME approved clerkships.

Admission Process

Trinity University School of Medicine has an admissions committee comprised of faculty members representing the foundations of medicine and the clinical sciences. The non-voting chair of the committee is the Director of Admissions. Completed applications along with the results of the interview conducted at the Miami office are sent to the committee (St. Vincent) for its review and recommendation. Typically admissions decisions are received within two weeks of the submission of the application and all supporting documents to the committee. Once the decision is rendered, the applicant will be notified immediately regarding the decision and next steps in the process.

Application Deadlines

Trinity University School of Medicine offers three enrollment opportunities each year: September, January and May. We use rolling admissions and there are no application deadlines. However, for best consideration we encourage applicants to submit all materials for consideration within 4 to 6 months prior to the requested start date. If it is determined that you will be offered an interview, you can expect to receive notification from the admissions office within two weeks of the receipt of your completed application. At that time, an interview will be scheduled to be held at our national admissions office in Miami, Florida.

Financing Your Program of Study

Tuition and Fees (effective January 1, 2008)

• Application Fee - $75.00
• Non-refundable initial Tuition Deposit (due 2 weeks following Receipt of the formal letter of admission) - $300.00
• Non-refundable final tuition deposit (due 3 months before The start of classes) - $700.00
• Graduation fee - $500.00

  Semesters I – IV
  Tuition	$10,000
  Insurance/semester*	$240.00
  Student Activity Fee	$50.00
  Total	$10,290.00

  
  

  Semesters V – X
  Tuition	$11,600
  Insurance/semester*	$240.00
  Total	$11840.00

*Estimate for semester premium is for a single adult under the age of 27

Other Expenses:

• Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support Fee (semester V) - $225.00

Textbooks
Textbooks must be purchased, foundations of medicine curriculum texts cost approximately $600 per semester.

Clinical Attire and Medical Kits
Clinical attire, consisting of lab jackets, scrubs, dissection kits and patient examination kits will be required during the foundations of medicine semesters. You should budget a total of $750.00 for these items which can be purchased in advance of your arrival in St. Vincent.

Health Insurance
Health insurance is mandatory while students are enrolled at Trinity University School of Medicine. Students can either enroll in the insurance plan provided by Trinity or provide proof of private coverage to the Bursar at the time of registration for the semester.

Housing
Housing is coordinated through the office of the director of housing. Only apartments that meet university standards are certified for habitation by Trinity students. Costs range from $500 to $1000 per month depending upon amenities and location. We encourage students to make housing arrangements prior to arriving on campus for the first semester. There is a onetime housing deposit of $750 due 45 days prior to the formal registration for the semester.

Living expenses
Food and entertainment is estimated to cost approximately $1200 – 1500 US / semester.

FINANCIAL AID
In order to be eligible for financial aid, students must be accepted into the programs and enrolled on a full time basis. As an accepted student, you are eligible to apply for private educational loans from various private lenders. In most cases, U.S. citizens, permanent residents and Canadian citizens are eligible to apply on their own (no co signor) while all other students can apply for a loan with a US co-signer.

Upon acceptance, students receive an individualized financial aid package. It is highly recommended that students review their credit and credit score from all three major credit bureaus to determine their credit rating before making applications for a loan. This can be done inexpensively AnnualCreditReport.com. Financial Aid forms are included in the student’s welcome packet. The financial aid office will only certify a loan once the student has submitted the full deposit of $1000.

Canadian Student Loans
CanHelp Loans: This credit-based loan is available to qualifying Canadian citizens. This loan has five loan levels that are semester specific. Students may apply on their own signature or with a credit worthy co-borrower who is also a Canadian citizen.

Canadian students are eligible for federal loans through the Ministry of Education Student Support Branch in a province of residence. Students may apply for up to 52 weeks of financial assistance annually. Work directly with your individual province for information regarding requirements.

Royal Bank of Canada
Royal Credit Line™ for students – Professional Designation: Available for students pursuing select degrees that include Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. It offers you a significantly higher credit limit, usually without the requirement of a co-signor. Plus it features a very attractive interest rate of just our Canadian Prime Rate + 1%.
Depending upon your degree, you can qualify for a credit limit of $55,000 to $150,000.

A planning Guide with more complete information on the various lenders and specifically for prospective Canadian students will be sent as part of the enrollment/welcome packet at the time of your admission to Trinity University School of medicine.

Trinity University School of Medicine reserves the right to change tuition and adjust fees or to establish additional fees/charges whenever in their opinion such action is deemed necessary.

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