The truth about Caribbean medical schools
Pamela Wible, MD | Education | March 8, 2017
******
“My school allows 1000 students a year in on average at the start of each August class. They let in about 700 for the January starting class which are on different schedules and have a smaller lecture hall to accommodate a smaller class. My starting class began with 1100 students, we are down to 650, meaning 59 percent of my class that I started the first day here with are still here to finish off our second year. The class of 700, starting in January, finished with around 450, meaning about 64 percent of their class made it from day on to the last day of year two. U.S. med schools have about a 1-2 percent attrition rate, we have, on average, a 40% attrition rate. The problem I have with this is that our school allows students to take on 40K per semester of debt just to dismiss them after four or five semesters if they fall below an overall GPA below a 75% or having a final grade of below 70% in any one class. If a student does fall below either mark students may or may not be allowed to decel, which means repeating the failed class; however, this looks bad on a residency app, and if one fails again they are almost certainly dismissed (rare exceptions).”
******
“Students are literally mashed into a lecture hall which seats 900 and there are over 1000 students that must click in for mandatory lecture which is 80% of all lectures. If one falls below 80% attendance, they are automatically failed in the course. The stress of clicking in, finding a seat and waiting in lines on a campus that can’t accommodate this many people is a reason for the students who drop out in the first few weeks, which my school has statistics on. And they know this will happen after years of practicing the purposeful overcrowding. This is a business for profit medical school, and profit comes before the well-being of any student.”
******
“With 900 students how did we get down to 650? They turn the heat up in term two, three or four and have a system of questions and statistics for each question they put on their tests so that they fall within the number of students needed to remain to hit their margins. If they need to cut down class size numbers, the heads of the departments are told to use a more difficult test bank by the dean. Mind you, I’m very close with the head of several departments, and we have discussed this for hours, and our disapproval of the methods they use to keep within their budget. We only have 600 positions open for clinical rotations, so 50 more students will have to go this term to make the numbers right. The school has to have this 40% attrition rate to fund the paid positions for our clinical rotations in the U.S.”
******
“So why come here? TO BECOME A FREAKIN’ DOCTOR, THAT IS WHY! I remember studying homeless in the park for the MCAT with a head flashlight on. Now that I’m in my last semester, it seems all worth it. Every bit of it. There are waterfalls, beaches all over, fruit stands, rum shops, paddle boarding, night clubs, beautiful views at the campus, good people and lots of fun to keep you sane while you’re putting in what is most likely the toughest two years of life. It is stressful but it is ALL ABOUT WHAT YOU PUT INTO IT! If you want a 250 STEP 1 score, you work for it. If you want to be a surgeon you work for it, if you want to serve the underserved, you guessed it, YOU WORK FOR IT! I worked my tail off to get to this point, and I feel accomplished now.”
NEXT? FOR PROFIT MEDICAL SCHOOLS ARE ALREADY HERE!!!
Richard Lindzen is the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at MIT
Prof. Lindzen is a recipient of the AMS’s Meisinger and Charney Awards, the AGU’s Macelwane Medal, and the Leo Huss Walin Prize. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society. He is a corresponding member of the NAS Committee on Human Rights, and has been a member of the NRC Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate and the Council of the AMS. He has also been a consultant to the Global Modeling and Simulation Group at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (Ph.D., ’64, S.M., ’61, A.B., ’60, Harvard University)
Professor Lindzen recently wrote a letter to President Donald Trump explaining, briefly and cogently, why he and many other scientists are skeptical of the catastrophic anthropogenic global warming theory–which, despite tens of billions of dollars in government subsidies, has failed to generate significant empirical support.
Let me explain in somewhat greater detail why we call for withdrawal from the UNFCCC [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change].
The UNFCCC was established twenty-five years ago, to find scientific support for dangers from increasing carbon dioxide. While this has led to generous and rapidly increased support for the field, the purported dangers remain hypothetical, model-based projections. By contrast, the benefits of increasing CO2 and modest warming are clearer than ever, and they are supported by dramatic satellite images of a greening Earth.
• The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) no longer claims a greater likelihood of significant as opposed to negligible future warming,
• It has long been acknowledged by the IPCC that climate change prior to the 1960’s could not have been due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Yet, pre-1960 instrumentally observed temperatures show many warming episodes, similar to the one since 1960, for example, from 1915 to 1950, and from 1850 to 1890. None of these could have been caused by an increase in atmospheric CO2,
• Model projections of warming during recent decades have greatly exceeded what has been observed,
• The modelling community has openly acknowledged that the ability of existing models to simulate past climates is due to numerous arbitrary tuning adjustments,
• Observations show no statistically valid trends in flooding or drought, and no meaningful acceleration whatsoever of pre-existing long term sea level rise (about 6 inches per century) worldwide,
• Current carbon dioxide levels, around 400 parts per million are still very small compared to the averages over geological history, when thousands of parts per million prevailed, and when life flourished on land and in the oceans.
Re Dennis Drew’s post sounds like Organic Chemistry in pre-med designed to weed folks out, or various courses in Engineering designed to to the same things. Of course the folks at the Caribbean medical schools are folks typically could not make it into US medical schools, so perhaps a weed out is needed. With the 27% increase in enrollment of US medical schools, more grads of the Caribbean schools won’t be able to find residencies in the US. (Since that number is not increasing)
“The largest disparity noted in the U.N. report concerns hydrocodone: Americans consume more than 99 percent of the world’s supply of this opioid.”
******
“Unlike most of the developed world, the United States puts minimal constraints on aggressive marketing by pharmaceutical companies, whether the target is patients, prescribers, or medical and scientific societies. U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturers have been highly successful at promoting prescription opioids in this lightly regulated, profit-driven health-care environment.”
“So why come here? TO BECOME A FREAKIN’ DOCTOR, THAT IS WHY!”
Where? In the US, you cannot practice unless you have completed at least one year of internship/residency. Residency slots have remained stagnant while US med school class sizes have increased and new US med schools have opened. Graduates of Caribbean medical schools compete poorly for US residencies. For profit med schools? You bet. Fast track to a medical practice in the US? Not so much.
“Duchenne muscular dystrophy, or DMD, is a rare genetic disease that affects about one of every 3,600 male infants globally, according to the FDA. Patients lack a protein called dystrophin that’s essential for healthy muscle, and eventually lose the ability to walk, stand and breathe. Deflazacort is an anti-inflammatory corticosteriod used to treat the symptoms of DMD.”
“A generic form of Emflaza, called deflazacort, has been available to U.S. patients for decades from overseas pharmacies at a price of about $1,000.”
“Marathon Pharmaceuticals LLC is under new scrutiny [by] Washington lawmakers … surrounding approval of a drug that costs $89,000 a year.”
PAY OR (you children) DIE.
*****************
When late dean of the Washington press corps came to town the lobbyists were all labor union — so he said. Were lobbying still half union big pharma extortion could not possibly be happening. It’s just that on the daily operational basis unions and therefore the average person has no presence in the national discourse. And everything big phony is happening.
WHAT’S NEXT: FOR PROFIT MEDICAL SCHOOLS?
The truth about Caribbean medical schools
Pamela Wible, MD | Education | March 8, 2017
******
“My school allows 1000 students a year in on average at the start of each August class. They let in about 700 for the January starting class which are on different schedules and have a smaller lecture hall to accommodate a smaller class. My starting class began with 1100 students, we are down to 650, meaning 59 percent of my class that I started the first day here with are still here to finish off our second year. The class of 700, starting in January, finished with around 450, meaning about 64 percent of their class made it from day on to the last day of year two. U.S. med schools have about a 1-2 percent attrition rate, we have, on average, a 40% attrition rate. The problem I have with this is that our school allows students to take on 40K per semester of debt just to dismiss them after four or five semesters if they fall below an overall GPA below a 75% or having a final grade of below 70% in any one class. If a student does fall below either mark students may or may not be allowed to decel, which means repeating the failed class; however, this looks bad on a residency app, and if one fails again they are almost certainly dismissed (rare exceptions).”
******
“Students are literally mashed into a lecture hall which seats 900 and there are over 1000 students that must click in for mandatory lecture which is 80% of all lectures. If one falls below 80% attendance, they are automatically failed in the course. The stress of clicking in, finding a seat and waiting in lines on a campus that can’t accommodate this many people is a reason for the students who drop out in the first few weeks, which my school has statistics on. And they know this will happen after years of practicing the purposeful overcrowding. This is a business for profit medical school, and profit comes before the well-being of any student.”
******
“With 900 students how did we get down to 650? They turn the heat up in term two, three or four and have a system of questions and statistics for each question they put on their tests so that they fall within the number of students needed to remain to hit their margins. If they need to cut down class size numbers, the heads of the departments are told to use a more difficult test bank by the dean. Mind you, I’m very close with the head of several departments, and we have discussed this for hours, and our disapproval of the methods they use to keep within their budget. We only have 600 positions open for clinical rotations, so 50 more students will have to go this term to make the numbers right. The school has to have this 40% attrition rate to fund the paid positions for our clinical rotations in the U.S.”
******
“So why come here? TO BECOME A FREAKIN’ DOCTOR, THAT IS WHY! I remember studying homeless in the park for the MCAT with a head flashlight on. Now that I’m in my last semester, it seems all worth it. Every bit of it. There are waterfalls, beaches all over, fruit stands, rum shops, paddle boarding, night clubs, beautiful views at the campus, good people and lots of fun to keep you sane while you’re putting in what is most likely the toughest two years of life. It is stressful but it is ALL ABOUT WHAT YOU PUT INTO IT! If you want a 250 STEP 1 score, you work for it. If you want to be a surgeon you work for it, if you want to serve the underserved, you guessed it, YOU WORK FOR IT! I worked my tail off to get to this point, and I feel accomplished now.”
NEXT? FOR PROFIT MEDICAL SCHOOLS ARE ALREADY HERE!!!
http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2017/03/truth-caribbean-medical-schools.html
Forgot to include the link
Global Warming In One Easy Lesson.
Richard Lindzen is the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at MIT
Prof. Lindzen is a recipient of the AMS’s Meisinger and Charney Awards, the AGU’s Macelwane Medal, and the Leo Huss Walin Prize. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society. He is a corresponding member of the NAS Committee on Human Rights, and has been a member of the NRC Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate and the Council of the AMS. He has also been a consultant to the Global Modeling and Simulation Group at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (Ph.D., ’64, S.M., ’61, A.B., ’60, Harvard University)
Professor Lindzen recently wrote a letter to President Donald Trump explaining, briefly and cogently, why he and many other scientists are skeptical of the catastrophic anthropogenic global warming theory–which, despite tens of billions of dollars in government subsidies, has failed to generate significant empirical support.
Let me explain in somewhat greater detail why we call for withdrawal from the UNFCCC [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change].
The UNFCCC was established twenty-five years ago, to find scientific support for dangers from increasing carbon dioxide. While this has led to generous and rapidly increased support for the field, the purported dangers remain hypothetical, model-based projections. By contrast, the benefits of increasing CO2 and modest warming are clearer than ever, and they are supported by dramatic satellite images of a greening Earth.
• The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) no longer claims a greater likelihood of significant as opposed to negligible future warming,
• It has long been acknowledged by the IPCC that climate change prior to the 1960’s could not have been due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Yet, pre-1960 instrumentally observed temperatures show many warming episodes, similar to the one since 1960, for example, from 1915 to 1950, and from 1850 to 1890. None of these could have been caused by an increase in atmospheric CO2,
• Model projections of warming during recent decades have greatly exceeded what has been observed,
• The modelling community has openly acknowledged that the ability of existing models to simulate past climates is due to numerous arbitrary tuning adjustments,
• Observations show no statistically valid trends in flooding or drought, and no meaningful acceleration whatsoever of pre-existing long term sea level rise (about 6 inches per century) worldwide,
• Current carbon dioxide levels, around 400 parts per million are still very small compared to the averages over geological history, when thousands of parts per million prevailed, and when life flourished on land and in the oceans.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/03/global-warming-in-one-easy-lesson.php
Re Dennis Drew’s post sounds like Organic Chemistry in pre-med designed to weed folks out, or various courses in Engineering designed to to the same things. Of course the folks at the Caribbean medical schools are folks typically could not make it into US medical schools, so perhaps a weed out is needed. With the 27% increase in enrollment of US medical schools, more grads of the Caribbean schools won’t be able to find residencies in the US. (Since that number is not increasing)
Wonkblog Analysis
Americans use far more opioids than anyone else in the world
By Keith Humphreys March 15 at 10:16 AM
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/15/americans-use-far-more-opioids-than-anyone-else-in-the-world/?utm_term=.6fbe8baed4d5
“The largest disparity noted in the U.N. report concerns hydrocodone: Americans consume more than 99 percent of the world’s supply of this opioid.”
******
“Unlike most of the developed world, the United States puts minimal constraints on aggressive marketing by pharmaceutical companies, whether the target is patients, prescribers, or medical and scientific societies. U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturers have been highly successful at promoting prescription opioids in this lightly regulated, profit-driven health-care environment.”
“So why come here? TO BECOME A FREAKIN’ DOCTOR, THAT IS WHY!”
Where? In the US, you cannot practice unless you have completed at least one year of internship/residency. Residency slots have remained stagnant while US med school class sizes have increased and new US med schools have opened. Graduates of Caribbean medical schools compete poorly for US residencies. For profit med schools? You bet. Fast track to a medical practice in the US? Not so much.
Richard Lindzen?
Sammy’s attempt at propaganda can easily be falsified by a few seconds on google:
https://www.desmogblog.com/2015/03/06/denial-hire-richard-lindzen-cites-debunked-science-defend-willie-soon-wsj
https://www.skepticalscience.com/climate-scientists-take-on-Richard-Lindzen.html
https://www.desmogblog.com/lindzen-slipping-ranks-credible-scientists
https://www.inverse.com/article/11643-climate-change-denying-mit-prof-richard-lindzen-is-suddenly-popular-still-wrong
HERE WE GO AGAIN.
“Duchenne muscular dystrophy, or DMD, is a rare genetic disease that affects about one of every 3,600 male infants globally, according to the FDA. Patients lack a protein called dystrophin that’s essential for healthy muscle, and eventually lose the ability to walk, stand and breathe. Deflazacort is an anti-inflammatory corticosteriod used to treat the symptoms of DMD.”
“A generic form of Emflaza, called deflazacort, has been available to U.S. patients for decades from overseas pharmacies at a price of about $1,000.”
“Marathon Pharmaceuticals LLC is under new scrutiny [by] Washington lawmakers … surrounding approval of a drug that costs $89,000 a year.”
PAY OR (you children) DIE.
*****************
When late dean of the Washington press corps came to town the lobbyists were all labor union — so he said. Were lobbying still half union big pharma extortion could not possibly be happening. It’s just that on the daily operational basis unions and therefore the average person has no presence in the national discourse. And everything big phony is happening.
KEEP FORGETTING TO POST LINK:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-15/marathon-s-89-000-drug-under-scrutiny-for-unusual-approval
Joel,
They are like cockroaches, you stamp out one and another appears with the same tired, old fictions.