International
Program
Mission
Founded in 1935, the School of Medicine is an institution engaged
in the training and formation of physicians, whose main goal
is to improve community health through the following:
- Providing good
medical education.
- Discovering and
adapting medical knowledge.
- Providing health
care services in the clinical fields of learning.
- Developing a positive
attitude towards the protection and preservation of the
environment.
- Educating future
physicians in an integral way according to the UAG principles,
beliefs, and values.
Professional
Profile of the UAG Medical Graduate
Our graduate
is a professional capable of practicing medicine as a scientific
discipline, with a humanitarian attitude, and capable of protecting
human life through actions that promote, preserve, and restore
individual or group health, in their physical, ecological, and
social environment.
Their skills
are summarized in the following competences:
- Maintaining a permanent
attitude of self-criticism combined with a sense of personal
improvement in all professional activities.
- Applying clinical
skills for a keen and opportune diagnosis, prognosis, and
treatment.
- Applying criteria
for the opportune referral of patients that require specialized
diagnosis and treatment.
- Managing epidemiological
techniques for the diagnosis of the health-disease process,
participating in the epidemiological surveillance system.
- Emphasizing health
promotion and disease prevention.
- Applying rehabilitation
procedures to limit damage.
- Contributing to
the education of new health professionals and the community.
- Participating in
health care teams.
- Analyzing and using
information generated from the professional field.
- Acting ethically
throughout the professional practice. In addition, seeking
continuous improvement in general culture.
- Performing successfully
in their community health care system.
- Practicing general
medicine or to be able to continue in a residence program.
- Using when necessary
the advantage of the bilingual/bicultural skills.
The
School
The UAG
School of Medicine's international prestige is derived from
more than 70 years of constant effort to reach excellence through
curricular innovations destined to improve the teaching-learning
process. This is in addition to the acknowledgement presented
to the University by the President of United States in 1991
in recognition of the outstanding education provided to its
more than 8000 medical graduate residing in the U.S.
The
UAG School of Medicine strives to produce physicians who are
compassionate as well as capable of treating illness. The faculty
recognizes that performance as a physician requires not only
intellectual skills but also certain personal characteristics
and behavior that reflect sensitivity to human needs. The curriculum
and instructional methods are designed to develop and enhance
these qualities in each student.
The curriculum is comprehensive, helping the student develop
the skills of problem-solving and the discipline of self-education,
both of which must continue throughout his or her career. The
curriculum is diversified enough for the student to make knowledgeable
decisions on which specialty area or areas each wishes to pursue
after graduation. It is sufficiently varied so that the student
learns to adapt to the different environments in which each
will have to practice medicine. Yet, it is structured in such
a way that the student obtains sufficient depth in each basic
science and clinical area of study.
In our system of education, the student is taught one clinical
or basic science subject intensively for a period of several weeks. This approach
is extremely effective since the students
can bring all of their concentration to bear on one subject
at a time. The typical class day of 5-6 hours consists of lectures
with audio-visual presentations in one of the lecture halls.
These are followed by laboratory studies, discussions of specific
clinical problems, highly personalized small-group seminars
and question-and-answer sessions guided by supervising professors
and teaching assistants.
Two additional
carefully constructed programs have become of tremendous help
to the student's progress within the curriculum of the School
of Medicine. One is the Program of Medicine in the Community.
The second program is the on-campus CICB (Integrated Course
in the Basic Sciences), a basic-sciences review for students
that will complete their preparation to face the USMLE step I. This review course is thoroughly
comprehensive in the material it covers, plus it presents the
very latest information and techniques in test-analysis and
self-improvement. The course will help the student see where
each needs further study and will at the same time help in systematically
reviewing the various basic sciences previously studied.
The
First Four Years
Undergraduate
medical training includes study of the basic sciences, laboratory
work, and intensive clinical instruction. This program differs
substantially from many U.S. medical-school curricula in that
actual clinical exposure begins immediately, rather than after
basic-sciences instruction. At the successful conclusion of
the first four years of medical education and training and after passing the step I of the USMLE, the
student receives the authorization to begin the rotatory internship (final year of medical training).
Internship
The fifth
year, or Internado, is spent in an undergraduate rotating internship,
where the student gains further supervised clinical experience and competence
at a university hospital or affiliated institution in Mexico, US or Puerto Rico. During this year the student must pass the step II of the USMLE in order to accredit the rotatory internship.
The
Professional Examination
The Examen Profesional (professional examination) for students of the International Program,corresponds to the USMLE step I and step II, that must be approved in order to obtain the titulo de Médico cirujano.
Social
Service
As the name implies, Social Service (Servicio Social) is a full one-year, mandatory, federally supported activity. All UAG medical graduates that have aspirations to practice medicine professionally in México must participate in this year of social service in Mëxico. At the end of this year, the medical graduate has the opportunity to apply for a Cédula Profesional; after fulfilling the government requirements. This year is done primarily in very small, economically disadvantaged towns devoid of health-care facilities.
The
Medical Degree
Upon completion
of the first five years and upon successfully passing the Professional
Examination, the UAG graduate physician is awarded his or her
medical degree: the Título de Médico-Cirujano
(Degree of Physician-Surgeon).
ECFMG
Certification
In addition
to earning his or her degree (Título), and after passing the USMLE step I and II, the US student must submit the required documentation by the ECFMG in order to get the ECFMG Certificate. This certification in turn, allows
the doctor to enter accredited postgraduate residency training
programs in the United States.
Teaching
Facilities
The UAG
School of Medicine offers the coursework leading to a medical
degree.
To support the medical education program, the UAG has two
separate medical campi plus numerous supporting clinical facilities
in the Guadalajara area and elsewhere.
ICB
Campus
The
Institute of Biological Sciences (ICB) is located in a pleasant
residential section of Guadalajara, approximately one mile east
of the main campus. The tree-lined avenues leading to the ICB
campus add to the atmosphere conducive to study both within
the campus proper and on the surrounding grounds.
This Institute contains amphitheaters, lecture halls, classrooms, laboratories, equipment, and facilities necessary for a complete basic-sciences education and it´s proper vinculation with the basic training for the development of clinical and surgical techniques.
In
addition to quality instruction by our distinguished faculty,
the ICB contains well-equipped laboratories, a library and audiovisual-resource
center, through the use of cadavers and animals for pre-clinical
surgical practice, and with other instructional facilities including
a computer learning center.
All
materials, including microscopes and other learning aids, are
provided for students' use by the University. In addition, student
services such as a bookstore, cafeteria, and copy center are
all conveniently located on campus.
ICB
map
Tesistán
Campus
Is
where students in their third and fourth years complete their instruction
in the clinical practice of medicine. This campus contains clinical
laboratories, a pathology laboratory, lecture halls, large classrooms,
and small classrooms for personalized clinical work with patients.
In addition to the more than 100 hospitals associated with UAG medical school, an
innovative Ambulatory Medical Clinic (HAMA) gives added clinical
depth. Patients in need of medical treatment are brought into
this program and are provided with free medical attention in
exchange for the added clinical exposure it affords the students.
The patients in this program stay for periods that are long
enough to assure adequate follow-up on the clinical course of
their illnesses.
Besides
a large library housing both Spanish and English books, journals,
and other publications, this campus contains an audiovisual
laboratory with computer stations for clinical learning and
problem-solving,
The
Dr. Angel Leaño University Hospital
(HAL) is located on this campus. Included in its facilities
are: outpatient service
with various specialty clinics, emergency rooms, and
surgical and radiological services.
About
Spanish
Exams,
handbooks and textbooks are in English for the first two years.
Except for the clinical practices, 70% of classes are in English
(however, the seven basic sciences courses are taught in english).
A gradual transition takes place over the next four semesters
so that by the fifth semester, all classes are in Spanish. Students
will build on, their basic foundations in Spanish as they progress
through the basic sciences years, acquiring the proficiency
and technical knowledge in Spanish that they need to be truly
fluent.
The University offers excellent intensive Spanish courses that provide students the opportunity to adjust to the Mexican culture and to get to know Guadalajara while at the same time improving in their new language. More than 1000 students from different countries come every year to learn spanish through our excellent courses.
One of
the many advantages in studying at the Universidad Autónoma
de Guadalajara School of Medicine is that you will graduate
as a bilingual physician.
Student
Behavior and Discipline
Students
enrolling in the University assume an obligation to maintain
their conduct, moral character, and ethics above reproach, and
to in no way bring the University into dispute through their
language or actions. Rules concerning student conduct, student
organizations, use of University facilities, and related matters,
are set forth in both University policies and campus regulations.
Special attention is called to the pamphlet "Reglamento
de Disciplina para Alumnos de la UAG" (Rules of Conduct
for Students at the UAG), which is distributed to all incoming
U.S. students during Orientation Week and is available to any
student upon request at the International Students' Affairs
Office.
