Future of Caribbean Medical Schools

Medical school is a popular future destination of many of my students. One of the issues that occasionally comes up when discussing medical school with students is the possibility of attending a medical school in the Caribbean.

Historically, students who have not been able to gain admission to medical school in the US have considered going to one of the medical schools in the Caribbean because they have easier admission standards. But, medical schools in the Caribbean may be in trouble.

Caribbean medical schools promise students that they will be able to spend part of their third and fourth years of medical schools in the US during their clinical training. Most often, these medical schools pay hospitals in New York to act as the site of the students clinical training. That use is being challenged by the medical schools based in New York.

The New York Times is reporting about a move by the US medical schools to make the use of New York hospitals for clinical training by the Caribbean medical schools more difficult if not impossible. Without these clinical sites the Caribbean medical schools will have difficulty recruiting students from the US and some of them may not survive.

There is forecast to be a shortage of physicians in the coming years so the loss of any medical schools is not a good thing. Hopefully, the US medical schools and the New York hospitals can come to some sort of understanding that still allows the use of the hospitals for clinical training by the Caribbean medical schools.

What do you think? Should the Caribbean medical schools be able to use New York hospitals for their clinical training?