Grand Rounds.

Studying in a caribbean medical school has its down falls. I think the biggest one is the lack of exposure to patient-doctor interaction and the hospital setting. The local hospital acts as our training resource in our last semester on the island, but its rarely enough (or so I've heard). To accommodate this, Saba is really trying to integrate as many opportunities for students as possible. On sunday, one of the 5th semester Physical Diagnosis professors - along with 4th semester students - organized 3 mock scenarios presented in a grand-round manner that residents, interns and medical students participate in as part of their integrated training. I thought it was really well done and explained. The professor would allow the students to act out a set problem and stop them in the middle to discuss and open up questions to the audience of what you should be looking for with the given information.
Personally, I was a little overwhelmed with the amount of information that was linking together from various classes. BUT it really was such an interesting experience to witness. At least it showed that our studying really has a purpose in the long run! I'm hoping they keep these 'mock grand rounds' a tradition from now on as many students found it useful ... or at least interesting!

On a different note, I wanted to address my last post. As I received a comment about it, I realized that for  the incoming students it may have come off a little scary to say that half our class failed the 3rd block. Although very true, that block is known to be one of the hardest and most stressful in all 5 semesters. With that said, Saba is known to have a high attrition rate and I know some people are influenced by that when deciding to come here. In my opinion, you came here to study and if you get through the Saba curriculum you WILL be well prepared for the USMLE step 1. Our results on the test are consistently great - I know that recently one student scored a 260 (which is amazing!!)
This just shows that the hard work you put into getting through the Saba classes will be worth it in the end as you are working to set your career in the right path... at least that's how I look at it.

In terms of how to prepare... get yourself mentally ready for TONS of studying. I wouldn't recommend starting ahead of time because you have sufficient time to adjust and learn the material like everyone else did. Enjoy the time you have at home, spend it with friends and family because you will be reducing that communication time once you reach the island. So relax and do anything but school work while you have the chance! :)

(Saba policy on failing a course: 1 course = academic probation. You will have to repeat that course. I think failing more than 1 requires the student to withdraw from the program. Although your best bet is to talk to academic advisors about this matter - I've heard they are pretty good in terms of dealing with personal matters.)