The San Juan Bautista School of Medicine (SJB) is a medical school located within the San Juan Bautista Medical Center in Caguas, Puerto Rico. The school offers studies in general practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, ob-gyn, emergency medicine, surgery, and psychiatry. The school offers a four-year Medical Degree program (M.D.) and a five-year Medical Degree program. Mostly, Spanish is spoken, but medicine is learnt in both Spanish and English. The faculty includes experienced medical doctors and professors that integrate knowledge with practice, in both, basic and clinical sciences. At the hospital, different specialists and sub-specialists offer their community services and teaching to the students. On August 2008, the school will begin to offer the Master program in Public Health (MPH) program for students who wish to continue graduate studies.

The San Juan Bautista School of Medicine (SJB) was founded in 1978 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It's a non profit corporation, incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. On June 22 of 1979, it was authorized by the Council of Higher Education of Puerto Rico to offer studies pertinent to the M.D. degree. The Council of Higher Education of Puerto Rico is the governmental agency with the responsibility to coordinate the efforts related to the higher education in Puerto Rico.

The Institution has continued to develop through the years, and it moved its facilities to the city of Caguas in 1988, one of the most important urban centers in Puerto Rico. Nearly 150,000 people live in this progressive city of Puerto Rico. Caguas is located in the East-Central region of the island, 18 miles (29 km) south of San Juan the Capital City of Puerto Rico. Due to the short distance between Caguas and San Juan, it is accessible to ports and airport facilities, thus permitting the fast movement of people and merchandise. This element facilitates commercial, industrial and tourism expansion activities. The commercial development effect of urban growth during the last twenty years has allowed the construction of shopping centers with modern amenities and installations. Around the periphery of the city, arise modern, recreational, sports and cultural facilities which have been developed in recent years.

On February 1998, the Middle States Association (MSA), granted Candidacy for Accreditation Status to the School. The self-study design was accepted and the School was authorized to start its self-study process in April 2001. Thanks to this Candidacy, San Juan Bautista School of Medicine was certified on November 1998 to participate in the Title IV Program of the Department of Federal Education, specifically in the Federal Family Education Loan Program. Through the Puerto Rico Health Reform, there was the opportunity of buying hospitals from the government. The School of Medicine saw the possibility of growth and presented a proposal to buy Caguas' Regional Hospital, Dr. Eduardo Garrido Morales, and on July 1, 1999 took control over its operations under the name of San Juan Bautista Medical Center. On June 2004, San Juan Bautista School of Medicine is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The Commission on Higher Education is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for the Higher Education Accreditation. The school is also member of the Board of Medical Examiners of Puerto Rico.

On November 2006, San Juan Bautista School of Medicine received the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) team visit as a final step in the program accreditation process.  As part of the accreditation procedure, a process of reconsideration was held with a final decision of accreditation by the LCME, on June 15, 2007. This made San Juan Bautista the fourth LCME accredited medical school in Puerto Rico. LCME public announcement was: "At its June 5-7, 2007 meeting, the LCME granted accreditation to the medical education program leading to the M.D. degree at the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine in Caguas, Puerto Rico. The decision to grant accreditation will take effect at the beginning of academic year 2007-2008, and apply to all students enrolled in the M.D. program and taking coursework leading to the completion of the M.D. degree at that time."

During the year 2006, the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and its Legislative Assembly approved the act that creates the Regional Academic Medical Centers. This act establish that the four medical schools in Puerto Rico will lead and coordinates the health services of a determined area of the island under an environment of health education and the integration of the community in the academic development of the medical students interns and residents. The San Juan Bautista School of Medicine and its hospital the San Juan Bautista Medical Center, is part of these Academic Medical Center, serving the Central Region of Puerto Rico. (Regional Academic Medical Centers of Puerto Rico Act: Act 136 of 2006)

Up to June 30, 2007, San Juan Bautista School of Medicine has graduated a total of 900 medical doctors that have been integrated successfully to provide health care in Puerto Rico and abroad.

Summary content courtesy of wikipedia.org

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