Xavier University School of Medicine
The last university on the list of the best universities in Aruba is Xavier University School of Medicine (XUSOM). This university was established in 2004 and is chartered by the government of Aruba, with permission from the Ministry of Education of Aruba to confer the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree and other health professions. The Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and Other Health Professions no longer recognizes it as of 2022.
The old school building is in Oranjestad, Aruba's capital and largest city. A 125,000-square-foot facility is available on the campus. Classrooms with audiovisual aids, laboratories, including an Anatomy dissection lab with plastinated cadavers and an Anatomage table, skills, and simulation labs, faculty offices, administrative and support staff, a library, and transportation facilities are all housed on the old campus.
The Pre-Med Program and the M.D. Programs are both available at Xavier. The Pre-Med program is a one-and-a-half-year program for students who have just graduated from high school or who have not completed all of their prerequisites. After completing the Pre-Med program, the student can enter the M.D. program.
The M.D. program at XUSOM is spread out over four years. The Basic Sciences are covered in the first two years of the program. Students attend classes at the university's Aruba campus. The Basic Science curriculum is organized around "integrated organ systems," and it includes early clinical exposure and clinical skills training. On the island, the school has a standardized patient program, and students take Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE). In addition, students visit local physician clinics and complete a hospital observership on the island. In teaching-learning, interactive lectures, small-group discussions, problem-based learning (PBL), team-based learning (TBL), clinical case presentations, and laboratory experiences are used. Professionalism, Medical Humanities, Cultural Competency, and Behavioral Sciences courses are integrated into the various organ systems. To assess competency, the school uses NBME (National Board of Medical Examiners) subjects and customized examinations. The final semester is dedicated to preparing students for the USMLE (the United States Medical Licensing Examination) Step 1 exam. Students enroll in the Kaplan live program in addition to regular classes taught by qualified Basic Sciences faculty. In 2019 and 2020, Xavier students passed the USMLE Step 1 exam with a pass rate of more than 96 percent.
During the final two years of the Clinical Sciences program, students will complete clinical clerkships at the university's affiliated hospitals in the United States. The core clerkship rotations are held at ACGME-approved (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) sites throughout the United States, including New York, Illinois, Maryland, and Washington, DC. The clinical rotations curriculum is 84 weeks long, with 12 weeks of Research and Intro to Clinical Medicine, 48 weeks of core rotations, and 24 weeks of elective rotations.
Location: Oranjestad, Aruba
Website: www.xusom.com
