Question & Answer


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Students / Residents

Q   Which are the students that come to the RAHC?
A   The Harlingen RAHC facility is the home base for 24 third-year and 24 fourth-year medical students. These students have completed the basic science portion (first two years) of their medical education in San Antonio. The students that come to the RAHC have reached the clinical stage of their education, and will spend most of their time at Valley Baptist Medical Center, Su Clinica Familiar, and other clinical sites in Harlingen and the Valley. Classrooms, library, computer resources, and student administrative services are available at the RAHC facility to support the clinical training. Also, the RAHC serves as home base for residents undergoing post-graduate specialty training in the primary care field of internal medicine. These residents will also spend the bulk of their time in the hospital and clinics but, like the medical students, have access to support resources in the RAHC facility. Finally, there will be a group of students participating in various programs at the RAHC, including the STEER (South Texas Environmental Education and Research) program where students will learn about the relationship between border environmental factors and human disease. Depending on availability of clinical sites, San Antonio-based medical students also come to the RAHC for specific 3rd and 4th year rotations and electives.  Upper level San Antonio-based residents in Ob/Gyn and surgery rotate to the Harlingen Campus and are involved in the medical students’ education.

Q   How are students selected for assignment to the RAHC?
Students who come to the RAHC to complete their clinical training do this on a volunteer basis.  However, some of the departments in San Antonio assign students to the RAHC for specific clerkships.

 

Q   Where do the students who study at the RAHC facilities come from? Will they be from the RAHC cities? How long do their studies last?
A   RAHC students and residents may come from Valley communities, but it is not a requirement. Medical students at the RAHC are primarily from Texas but come from around the country. Third- and fourth-year students will have completed their first two years of education at the medical school campus in San Antonio, and will be based in the Valley for the final two years of training leading to the M.D. degree. The residents will have graduated from medical schools throughout the nation, and will come to the Valley through a national matching process which matches up training programs at the RAHC with physicians who want to train at the RAHC. Residents will go through either three-, four- or five-year training programs, depending on the specialty.

Q   Will medical students who grew up in the Valley be able to get their third and fourth years of training at the RAHC?
A   Medical students who grew up in the Valley may choose to get their third and fourth years of training at the RAHC and its affiliated teaching facilities, provided that they get their first two years of medical school at UT Health Science Center San Antonio. Accreditation rules make it virtually impossible to take students from other medical schools for the final two years of training at the RAHC.

 

Q   Who awards the M.D. degree to graduating RAHC students?
A   UT Health Science Center San Antonio will award RAHC medical students the M. D. degree.

imageQ   Do medical students who study at the RAHC work with real patients?
A   Medical students work with real patients. They cannot be given individual responsibility for care of patients, but can participate in patient care under faculty supervision and with the consent of the patient. Residents, who are already physicians engaged in specialized training, can be given responsibility for patient care, but only under the close supervision of a faculty physician.

Q   When medical students complete their studies at the RAHC and receive their M.D. degree, are they required to practice medicine in the Valley?
A   When medical students graduate from medical school they enter residencies throughout the country to pursue their chosen specialty.  After completing their training they are free to practice wherever they choose. 

 

imageQ   Will graduating medical students have to take their residency training in the RAHC?
A   Medical students are free to seek residency training wherever they want. While still in medical school, students apply for residency training in the specialty of their choice at locations throughout the nation. A national matching process will match training programs--including those at the RAHC--with individuals who have indicated their specialty and location preferences. Thus, RAHC medical students may undergo specialty training anywhere in the country.

Q What are the educational program that students are to expect while at RAHC?
A  The students' first year with the RAHC will consist of a series of clerkships, or clinical rotations.
The RAHC has clerkships in the six required disciplines of Internal Medicine, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Pediatrics, Surgery, Psychiatry and Family and Community Medicine.


Our educational program will prepare students to pursue any career choice, whether  primary care practice, fellowship training, or academic medicine.


Q  Where Do the Residents Come From?
A  The residents have graduated from national and international medical schools and  come to the RAHC through a national matching process which matches up training programs with individuals who want to come to the Valley for their specialty training. Currently the RAHC has a fully accredited residency in Internal Medicine.


Comments by former Students Korina Lopez:
Korina Lopez, a member of the first class, said she is excited about training at the RAHC because of its unique learning opportunities. She said she has long wanted to practice medicine in a medically underserved community. "I think the RAHC is the perfect place to begin to work with the population that I hope to work for someday."


imageInternal Medicine Program
Residents provide inpatient care for the patients enrolled in the continuity clinics at Su Clinica Familiar, ensuring continuity of care between the inpatient and outpatient settings.

 


Educational Program in Internal Medicine
The three-year program is designed to provide residents with comprehensive skills in the inpatient and outpatient practice of internal medicine.


 Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs)
Applicants from medical schools outside the U.S may apply. Only graduates from medical schools that are recognized by the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners are eligible. To be considered for a position in our program, FMG applicants must have successfully completed USMLE(tm) Steps 1 & 2, the Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA(r)), and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (tm) (TOEFL(r)) by the 31st of Jan in order for the ECFMG status report to be updated prior to the NRMP Rank Order List deadline in February. Matched residents requiring ECFMG certification need to be certified by 30 April prior to beginning our program. For applicants with Foreign Visas, only J1 visas are offered by UT Health Science Center San Antonio programs.


Competitive applicants will be invited for an interview at the Regional Academic Health Center in Harlingen, TX. Interviews are held during the months of November, December, and January. Candidates will be selected on the basis of their application, transcript, USLME scores, letters of recommendation (including your dean's letter), and interviews.