Thread: Programme, Schedule and Academic Resources

This thread is for UAG academic programme information, including class schedule, academics and anything else.



Important phone numers:

General phone number: 3-648-8824 (ADD +52 33; i.e. from the US it's 1 52 33 3648 8824)

Campus Universitario (CU)
CU Asuntos Academicos X32475
CU (?) X32345
CU Finanzas X32352

CU ECFMG Liaison 3-648-8305 x 2223

Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas (ICB)
???

Hospital Angel Leaño (HAL) 3-648-8484
International Students office X1681 or X1590
Secretaria Escolar X1642


HAL Address:
Hospital Angel Leaño
Av Dr. Angel Leaño #500
CP 45134
Col. Los Robles
Zapopan, Jalisco


UAG TEXAS - SAN ANTONIO
210-366-1611
110 Gallery Circle
San Antonio, TX
78258, United States


Some of these phone numbers are not exact - if you call and find out what they are, send me a quick email to correct it. If you have another phone number that will help others please also let me know.

Academic Calendar
This can be accessed by going to Bienvenidos a la Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara ( ωωω.uag.Μχ ). However, the exact address is: School of Medicine - Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara ( uag.edu/medicine/med16.htm )."2°" and "EXT" areas are NOT part of the semester. They are for 2nd and 3rd attempts at passing a final exam.

Class Presentations and Notes
Lecture Power Point presentations and notes can be found at: UAG 360 ( uag360.com )Go to "Class Resources." Information is availalbe for 1st through 8th semesters.

Updates and Information from the Latin Side of the UAG
INFEMED by Gpo13 ( infemed.com/inicio )From the main page, you can go to "mis materias" for some good study material. You may have to join, but it is free. They also will send you e-mail about important updates if you want.

Online Library
The school requires that you do many article reviews, etc. Most medical magazine subscriptions are expensive. Unfortunately for my semester, we we here at the UAG for three years before it was made known that we have access to online material - some from our home.

First, you have to register for an account. This is often done when you first do a teacher evaluation. However, you can register before this time.

1. Go to: Bienvenidos a la Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara
2. Click bibliotecas. This will take you to Campus Digital - Red de Bibliotecas UAG
3. Click Registrate and use you student I.D. number (if you are not already registered) or enter using your I.D. number and password.
4. Go to Biblioteca Digital
5. Go to areas academicas y collections
6. Choose ciencias de la salud
   

Medicine is a career that is undertaken in Mexico after highschool (bacilerato - confusingly same word we use for college/university undergrad), which means that you end up with very young people learning how to cure others. There are some fallouts relevant to international students:

- Sometimes some professors will act like you are an immature 18-year old unless proven otherwise (though most profs now understand the large difference due to the qualifications needed to enter and the more mature, mostly older med students that attend the international program).

-More importantly the federally-regulated education is one of six years:

Four years of identical training compared to Northern America

One year of "sub-internship," whereupon you get your titulo ("title" of MD)

One year of "Servicio Social (social service)" whereupon you get your license to practice in Mexico - This is the year you do not complete as part of an international student

With the titulo at the end of fifth, you can then apply to the ECFMG in the US, or to provincial residencies (i.e. OMSAS) in Canada.

The first two years are conducted at a satellite campus known as the Instituto de Ciencias Basicas (ICB). Here you'll spend four semesters before you take the USMLE Step 1 exam and proceed to the hospitals, where medicine in Mexico truly shines.

The general perception you need to have is that the ICB is a place where you must learn on your own, develop your own learning strategies (and sometimes even goals and maybe syllabus). This is a do-it-yourself university where if you don't, you'll find you get really behind really soon. Expect zero help from the structured teaching, but practically every teacher is willing to help if you see them privately in their office.

Here is a general breakdown with the highlights:

Semester 1

Biochemistry (great course - thorough!)
Anatomy
Cell Biology
Embryology
Genetics
Computers, Intro to (get the info packet to possibly pass the challenge exam and not take the course)

The first semester is a big challenge with very little free time. You will take Biochem and Anatomy (with lab) full year and then have the other, smaller courses througout the year, one after the other. Scrubs of any colour are required for anatomy lab (either once or twice a week depending on what your lab group decides), and white scrubs will be required once a week for PMC (Programa de Medicina en la Comunidad - clinic). Most students just get white scrubs and wear those for both. At lab, the rules are simply "scrubs or lab coat" whereas for PMC you will need white everything, including shoes. Most white shoes are allowed, although some doctors who will be supervising you will be more sticklers about what kind of shoes to wear (e.g. non-tennis like the handout says). The white gear you will need for all four semesters at ICB when you do PMC.
PMC will be assigned by a lottery in which you are randomly chosen, and you choose the location (all are clinics within Guadalajara) usually within the first few weeks of first term; the day of your PMC duty is decided alphabetically by last name. You will do PMC for four hours after class on the day you choose, though there are only a certain number of slots per clinic per day. At the end of the term you will be asked to present a certification, which is an exam of a patient with full write-up in Spanish. You must call to schedule this certification every term. The certification will require more areas of the body as the terms progress.


Semester 2

Histology (lab may be optional - worth it)
Physiology (well-structured and organized course)
Immunology
Nutrition
Behavioural Science
Bioethics
Public Health and Preventative Medicine

Second semester, in stark contrast to first semester, has a lot of free time that is structured that way so students can focus on Physiology. It is very well organized and thankfully so for such an important course. Those that do this do well. Bioethics is an awful course (2009) - read books instead.
PMC this semester is based off of GPA performance in semester 1 - and will continue to be this way for all following semesters.

Semester 3

Microbiology and Parasitology
Neuroscience
Pathology (the general path section is world-class)
Pathophysiology
Surgical Techniques, Introduction to

Third semester is jam-packed again with Micro and Path being taken almost the entire year, and Neuro and Pathophys only part of the year. Surgical techniques is done either once a week or for a full week but to five classes total of four hours each. Pathophysiology is an awful class (2009). It is easy to feel discouraged due to the amount of work in this semester; do what it takes for you to finish. Surgery is meant to teach you basic techniques; just do the steps in sequence and don't get frustrated. No other school that we know of teaches surgical techniques at this point in time.

(2009) This semester you will also have NPF (nociones de patofisiologia) which is a course that is meant to solidify physical examinations and history, as well as diagnostics and special manoeuvres. You will have this usually once or twice a week, with a midterm and a final exam consisting of examining a patient (another student which you typically must provide) and providing diagnosis. You must wear whites for this and are real sticklers for debatable rules, such as no long hair for males. You will also need scrubs, non-specific, for surgery.

PMC will be a GPA lottery this semester as well, however, beginning with this term you can choose to complete your PMC during your breaks as a full week, weekends, or nightly. You can also choose to complete it at a non-PMC clinic, especially cruz roja and ruz verde, etc. sites across the country. This has to be approved by the PMC office. Most students choose a nearby town like Ajijic, Puerto Vallarta (PV) or Lake Chapala. It is heavily recommended that you do this in advance of 3rd term, as this term is fairly full.

Semester 4

Pharmacology and Toxicology
Haematology and Oncology (not for credit - attendance mandatory)
Imaging (not for credit - attendance mandatory)
CICB (an internal, formalized name for the Kaplan review course)

This semester consists of only Pharm for the first portion, then the other two classes are added until the all finish. H&O is fantastic, whereas imaging is awful (2009). Once you finish, you will take the Kaplan review course until the end of the semester.

Kaplan
You will receive a UAG-specific schedule of professors who come down and teach all the topics over again. UAG right now is moving the modules around which almost all students agree is a mistake, though they have said they will correct it. As it stands this is the biggest problem with what is a great review before the step 1 exam. You will be given a midterm (which is really a full Kaplan exam even though you've only taken half of the courses), then a final at the end of the course. After this, then you will have three chances to pass a full shelf exam on your own resources. You need to pass any of these in order to get signed off by the school to take the real step 1 .
Kaplan costs an extra $2000+ dollars on top of normal tuition.

You only have until the 9th week of Fifth Semester (i.e. end of first core rotation in the hospital) to pass the step 1, otherwise you are asked to take a semester off and will not be asked to return until you have successfully passed it BUT BE CHARGED FULL TUITION (as of 2009 - prior to the new program, the step 1 was not part of the curriculum, only part of the final MD requirements, causing most students to choose to wait until after the hospital phase).
The certification this term will require a higher mark to pass (changes from 80-90%) as well as a full physical of an individual.

HAL is located off the periferico and then off of the Carretera a Tesistan - there is a large tuning fork and the name of the hospital in stone letters that lead to the road named after the hospital which takes you all the way down to the entrance. There is now a WALMART and there is a Pemex right around the area. You should wear white scrubs at all times and will potentially have problems especially in exams if not.

Hospital Angel Leaño was considered a great hospital in the 70s and early 80s, but has fallen into disuse since workers there are no longer given 100% free care and instead are given a standard coverage - which means most people use medical facilities near their residences, rather than driving out of the way. This means that there is little more than minimal staff and equipment in a gigantic building. There is much to learn from the doctors, even if there are few patients and the equipment is scarce.

However, most of the education will not occur there for 3rd year.

You will be in the campus behind the hospital and bounce around the M.C. Escher-inspired layouts. Here's a link: Let me google that for you

In the same campus, there are two general section added: HAMA/UAMA and lecture halls. HAMA/UAMA (medicina ambulatoria) is a walk-in clinic where many patients attend at a low cost, and where classes connect with patients. There are also many lecture halls scattered throughout the campus. Added to this are also the administrative offices which are divided into two buildings: The "administration tower (torre administrativa)" which is the most northwestern building, and the "school offices (officinas escolares)" which is the most northeastern building. The international office as well as several other departments are in the tower, and the registrar and other departments are in escolar. You will often have to shuttle your paperwork between these two locations. In between them is a building which is the "placemente"building which is in charge of the connections between your classes and the clinics and hospitals you will attend.

The Northern America model of the last two years involves going to hospitals for different segments of specialties, and learning on-the-job with the individual hospital deciding if they require additional classes or lectures, grand rounds, etc. The third year (first clinical) is for "cores," or fields in which as a doctor you should have the minimum amount of knowledge and skills, and these are traditionally done at your home school. The fourth year (second clinical) is for "electives/selectives" and are up to the student's choosing in terms of both content and location.

The Mexican model assumes younger students and as such does not particularly care for the self-learning model. Instead, your time is divided into class time and hospital time, usually in half but the classroom phase always taking more time (sometimes with only three afternoon labs at all during a five-week block). The idea is that you will learn the theory during these two years and the on-the-job learning will take place in fifth and sixth years (which as mentioned above, only the fifth apply to international students unless they want to practice in Mexico). In Mexico the concept of Electives is also non-existent and is instead an inflexible and structued set of further classes in different fields. This discrepancy will come up again and is one of the biggest sources of headaches in the two clinical years at UAG.

Semester 5

Psychiatry (NOT Psychology - know the difference!)
Family Medicine
Applied Clinical Cases
and

Cardiology
Gastroenterology (GI)
Pneumology

WHICH COMBINE into one larger block of internal medicine


This semester, like all at HAL, are basically dependant on which doctor you get who teaches your sections. All education in all blocks is divided into three categories, or activities, which are structured and designed differently depending on the coordinator of the block:

Actividad I:
This is a lecture-hall type class which lasts one or two hours.

Actividad II: This is a small-group activity which usually involves presentations or workbooks

Actividad III: This is involving the patients and may involve either actual clinic time with doctors at HAMA/UAMA or disgnated "students with patient time" to do Hx and Px.

Each activity is usually one hour with some blocks requiring extra time in additional labs such as X-ray for Pneumo, heart sounds for Cardio, etc.

Applied clinical cases: you will spend the entire semester split up into normally two groups and spend an hour every day reviewing cases with no connection to the blocks you're also in - and then presenting with your group the case in a specified format.

It should be understood that most of the information being taught will feel perhaps pedantic due to the fact that you SHOULD have passed STEP 1 at this point and the classes are geared towards individuals who have not. This is not the professors' fault.

During each block you will have to also be assigned a hospital or large clinic - this is done based on credits and not GPA. Credits are calculated by multiplying your grade on a course times the weight of the course which varies - and can be seen in your grade reports. It should be noted that your credits are the ones you have up until this point (i.e. semesters 1-4) and the current semester does not count. The class is ranked and you will complete a draw much link in PMC the previous semesters and then have to pick a clinic location. This happens unannounced and you should do your research as to where you want to go in terms of location, etc. at the placement office, where there is a large map with all the locations.

Semester 6

Surgery
Pediatrics
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Applied Clinical Cases

This semester is a continuation with different topics; the major difference is the size of the blocks is larger than one month. Also, for some reason, we still have applied clinical cases as a class and yet do not receive credit for this class, neither in the GPA field nor in the official transcripts.

_______________________________________

Semester 7

At the end of 6th semester you need to make a choice for what you will do in 4th year. You generally have three options:

1. Attend classes as per normal:
You will continue with classes and courses as you have been previously, and attending hospitals and clinics for half the time of the course. The courses are:

Neurology and Dermatology
Infectology and Forensics
Endocrinology and Nutrition
Ambulatory Medicine



2. Electives in Mexico:
You need to have an 8.0+ average and have taken no more than 3 extras. You also need to pay what amounts to an extra USD$1200 (which is actually based on a percentage of your tuition (.004% of annual tuition, which you must also pay. Note that the Latino group has the exact same program based on their annual tuition). Here, you will mimic the Northern American model and be attached to a hospital, where you will fill out your bitacora and rotate around the individual wings of the hospital to mimic the specialties done back at HAL. YOU MUST RETURN TO HAL FOR THE LAST BLOCK WITH THE CLASS. This is typically Endocrinology and Nutrition.


3. Electives abroad:
You need to have an 8.0+ average and have taken no more than 2 extras. You also need to pay what amounts to an extra USD$100 PER WEEK abroad ON TOP of your tuition. Here, you set up your own electives wherever you can by applying for them in 5th and 6th semester. Most universities require you to apply 6-9 month in advance in order to secure a spot. Administration will DEMAND that you follow the curriculum that the school follows, and so you must choose those options for electives abroad. YOU MUST RETURN TO HAL FOR THE LAST BLOCK WITH THE CLASS. This is typically Endocrinology and Nutrition

4. COOP in Puerto Rico:
You need to have an 8.0+ average and have taken no more than 2 extras.
This involves taking the full year in Puerto Rico and rotating at a hospital there. Cost is USD$2000

Included in the fourth option was and option to the top 3 students based on GPA: Take all cores (i.e. 3rd year courses) during 4th semester at a hospital in NY. This has been confirmed as no longer an option starting on 2011/02. Cost was USD$2000



All students must take the final exams of these classes. For those not in regular classes, this implies having to take them all during segundos week, all in a row, much like we are accustomed to in Northern America: an "exam week" of sorts. You will also need in most circumstances copies of your vaccination being up to date (and most likely a mantoux) as well as health insurance wherever you will practice, both for liability and for personal.

_________________________

Semester 8

As semester 7, this is an identical semester where you must make a choice between the four options in the following topics:

Traumatology and Orthopedics
Urology and Emergency Medicine
OBGYN and surgical specialties
ENT and Pain Management

As before, all students must take the final exams and if not with the course then during "exam week" during segundos.

Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara, U.A.G., UAG, Student Medical Health Insurance

Graduation

You will receive a package which must be paid by all students graduation. There will also be optional items which you can purchase either through commercial displays at the school, or through a hosting that the class will do.

The mandatory package costs MEX$3950 - but if you pay in San Antonio, you are charged in dollars USD$334 (which is MEX$4400), and if you pay in credit card in Guadalajara you are charged a 10% premium for paying with credit card. The best thing to do is to pay the grad fees in cash in Guadalajara.

These fees will be due approximately two months after the start of term.

The package includes:
Ceremony
Diploma (which is both the certificate you receive after finishing your time at UAG, and the final parchment)
Toga, tailored and with hood (to keep, not just rent)
Mass and Choir
Hippocratic Oath
25 Personalized Invitations
Panoramic Photo - one in White Coats
Individual Photo (for Official documents)
Alumni Association Membership
Gift for "Padrino"

ICB Library Hours
M-F 7am-6am
Sat 7am-4pm
Sun CLOSED

Originally Posted by amronski

What are the hours for the libraries at UAG? Specifically the ICB Library? Are there any libraries that are open late? Or, are there other places where students can go and study late? Thanks.