Medical Program
Clinical Years

The St. George’s University approach to clinical education provides students with the opportunity to learn medicine in some of the best and best-known hospitals in the world. Located in the United States and the United Kingdom, some of these hospitals have been designated by the University as Clinical Centers. A Clinical Center is a hospital or group of hospitals able to provide at least four of the five core rotations, train 80–100 students at all times, and offer sub-internships, primary care, and elective rotations. The Clinical Centers allow students to complete all of their clinical training at one site if they wish.

The clerkships at these hospitals conform to the curriculum, course descriptions, and educational goals of St. George’s University School of Medicine, and are monitored carefully through site visits and faculty meetings. All core rotations and sub-internships must be taken only in those hospitals with which the University has an active, written affiliation agreement, and in which there are appropriate St. George’s University clinical faculty members. In these hospitals, there exist Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)–approved residency training programs (or their British equivalents) in the subjects to be studied. Any other hospital in which electives are taken must also have approved postgraduate programs in the areas of training offered.

In the Clinical Years, students are taught by over 800 clinicians. In addition to clinical professors, the School of Medicine appoints a Director of Medical Education at every Clinical Center and affiliated hospital, and Clerkship Directors in each of the core clinical specialties studied there. Site visits from the Office of Clinical Studies to affiliated hospitals occur regularly. This allows the School of Medicine administration to
meet with students and faculty throughout the Clinical Years. Departmental meetings are held at least twice a year to maintain and improve the strength of the departmental structure and to support ongoing evaluation of the curriculum, program delivery, evaluation, and testing procedures.

In the Clinical Years, students are taught by an educational method based on the practical experience found in hospitals and clinics under careful supervision by practicing physicians. The knowledge acquired in the Basic Sciences serves as a basis for the facts and concepts necessary to understand the practice of modern medicine. In the Clinical Years, students develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to continue into postgraduate training. For all core rotations, the University has required reading assignments and the hospitals offer small group teaching sessions, conferences, and lectures. Clinical skills introduced in Grenada now become a major component of students’ education. In the hospital, students are involved in the care of patients and develop diagnostic decision making, history, physical examination, and test interpretation skills. Students learn to communicate with patients, their families, and other health care workers, and are expected to grow into their roles as professionals.

During the Clinical Years, we emphasize responsibility, maturity, and compassion as important attributes in the development of professional excellence. Students are expected to learn how to conduct themselves in the professional role of physician and are judged on their ability to take responsibility, relate to and work harmoniously with professional colleagues, exhibit maturity in conduct on the wards, and demonstrate the disposition of a mature and qualified physician.

Clinical Years
80 Weeks

Core Clerkship Year
Medicine: 12 weeks
Surgery: 12 weeks
Pediatrics: 6 weeks
Obstetrics/Gynecology: 6 weeks
Psychiatry: 6 weeks

Senior Year
Medicine Sub-Internship: 4 weeks
Primary Care*: 4 weeks
Medicine Elective: 4 weeks
Pediatric Elective or Sub-Internship: 4 weeks
Additional Electives: 22 weeks

*Family Practice; Emergency Medicine; or Outpatient Experience in General Medicine,
General Pediatrics, or General Obstetrics/Gynecology