Check out our last Ultimate Med Immersion trip from the Philippines.
The Ghana Ultimate Med Immersions is accepting bookings for high school student groups for those aged 16+. There is no minimum age requirement for bookings on our college student groups.
* Only $500 due at time of reservation.
Beyond just observation, depending on the specialty and attending physician, you may participate in patient care, including surgeries, procedures, physical examinations, and history taking.
Watch surgery being performed while standing in operating rooms or observation rooms. You could see surgeons and their team do their work first-hand.
Part of the Ultimate Med Immersion experience is having a physician alongside you so you can learn the medicine being delivered.Â
Ghana has one of Africa’s most comprehensive health systems. Learn how the system differs from the U.S. and how patient care is delivered.
Students are responsible for booking roundtrip domestic airfare from their home city to JFK International Airport in New York, NY. Plan to arrive at JFK at least 4 hours prior to departure to Ghana to prepare for international travel and to meet with the group.
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Students must then use our program travel agency to book their flight to Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana. This international flight must be purchased through McNair/Direct Travel at dt.com or by calling (703) 836-1100..
Upon registration, you will be provided with a questionnaire to prepare our staff to make your stay a comfortable one. There, you can list any special dietary restrictions that should be noted, such as food allergies. Due to the logistics of such a program, we cannot provide meals based on individual requests, but there will be healthy and delicious options at each sitting for your choosing.
Day 1
Saturday, June 25
4:00PM – Arrive at JFK Airport in New York
Afternoon/Evening – Depart for Accra, Ghana
Day 2 (Sunday)
Evening – Arrive Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana
Transfer to Accra Hotel
Arrival Meal & Evening rest
Day 3 (Monday)
9:00AM – Depart for Cape Coast Teaching Hospital
11:30AM – Arrive CCTH, have lunch and meet for orientation
Curriculum Day #1
1:00PM-4:30PM – Afternoon rotations
Check in Cape Coast Hotel, Dinner, Evening activity or rest
During rotations, students will experience Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, Saltpond Hospital, and Dominase Village Clinic equally. Lunch will be at host facility each day.
Day 4 (Tuesday)
Curriculum Day #2
9:00AM-4:30PM – Rotations
6:00PM – Dinner at Cape Coast Hotel
7:00-8:00PM – Debrief
8:00PM-11:00PM – Evening social visits
Day 5 (Wednesday)
Curriculum Day #3
9:00AM-4:30PM – Rotations
6:00PM – Dinner at Cape Coast Hotel
7:00-8:00PM – Debrief
8:00PM-11:00PM – Evening social visits
Day 6 (Thursday)
Curriculum Day #4
9:00AM-4:30PM – Rotations
6:00PM – Dinner at Cape Coast Hotel
7:00-8:00PM – Debrief
8:00PM-11:00PM – Evening social visits
Day 7 (Friday)
Curriculum Day #5
9:00AM-4:30PM – Rotations
6:00PM – Dinner at Cape Coast Hotel
7:00-8:00PM – Debrief
8:00PM-11:00PM – Evening social visits
Day 8 (Saturday)
Cape Coast Sightseeing
Visit Elmina Slave Trade Castle and historic sites
Explore and have lunch on your own
Evening group fun activity, such as evening beach party
Day 9 (Sunday)
Religious services will be made available as requested
Central Region, Ghana Sightseeing
Wildlife Sanctuary, Beach, shopping
Explore and have lunch on your own
6:00PM – Dinner at hotel
7:00PM – Evening preview for week
Day 10 (Monday)
Curriculum Day #6
9:00AM-4:30PM – Rotations
6:00PM – Dinner at Cape Coast Hotel
7:00-8:00PM – Debrief
8:00PM-11:00PM – Evening social visits
Day 11 (Tuesday)
Curriculum Day #7
9:00AM-4:30PM – Rotations
6:00PM – Dinner at Cape Coast Hotel
7:00-8:00PM – Debrief
8:00PM-11:00PM – Evening social visits
Day 12 (Wednesday)
Curriculum Day #8
9:00AM-4:30PM – Rotations
6:00PM – Dinner at Cape Coast Hotel
7:00-8:00PM – Debrief
8:00PM-11:00PM – Evening social visits
Day 13 (Thursday)
Curriculum Day #9
All UMI Med-Health Fair Day – Three communities and students will perform education and assessments on community members through blood pressure, diabetes, vision, hearing, and nutrition screenings and education.
Day 14 (Friday)
Closing ‘Durba’ Ceremony with area dignitaries
Return to Accra and hotel
Afternoon sightseeing
Day 15
Saturday, July 9
Breakfast at Hotel
Transfer to Accra Kotoka International Airport
Depart Accra, Ghana
Arrive at JFK Airport in New York
While in Cape Coast, students will stay at one of three randomly assigned hotels. Students will be partnered with a roommate. Single rooms will be available upon request for additional cost.
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Each hotel is Ghanaian style with air conditioning, swimming pools, and restaurants in a safe, clean and comfortable environment in an excellent location.
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Ridge Royal Hotel
Situated in the historic City of Cape Coast, Ghana. The Hotel boasts of a picturesque landscape in a serene environment.
Oguaa Apartments & Lodging
Located 200 meters away from Hans Cottage of Abura-Effutu Road, each suite has a luxuriously furnished living room, expansive balcony, and fully-fitted kitchenette.
Hotel Loreto
A 15-minutes drive away from the Cape Coast Castle and Elmina Castles, Hotel Loreto offers one of the best accommodation in Cape Coast with an outdoor pool and on-site bar.
While in Ghana, students can expect traditional dishes of Fufu, Banku, Jollof Rice, Fish Stew, Waakye, Groundnut Soup, Fried or Boiled Yam, and Plantains.
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Banku & Okro Stew
Most American foods, such as pasta, burgers, chicken and rice, vegetables, kebabs and pizza is also available. All Coca Cola products are readily available, as well as coffee and tea.
A Real-Time Clinical Education
What separates the Ultimate Med Immersion experience from others is you will be traveling with a U.S. physician who will help guide you through the clinical experiences you are observing. Every night, you’ll have the opportunity to discuss the patients you have seen, their pathology and treatment options with our lead physician educator on your trip. Imagine seeing a patient with diabetes who has a foot ulcer in clinic. As part of the medical curriculum, you would see the patient with the Ghanaian physicians and decide on a treatment plan. Then, as part of the daily medical curriculum, you would be taught the pathology of diabetes and the treatment options for vascular insufficiency of the foot by our lead physician educator. We believe no other experience outside actual medical school is as all encompassing and real time as this.
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Hospitals You Will Visit
Here are our primary hospital settings where we have been granted full access approval by the area Governor and the Hospitals Executive Administration.
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• Cape Coast Teaching Hospital – the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital will serve as our main base of operations and be open for visits for all the surgery observations and physician shadowing, as well as other related departments.
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• Saltpond Municipal Hospital – Saltpond provides continued observations of patient care, surgeries, and primary care (especially prenatal) for our students to observe and participate in. There is not an active website for it. It is more of a community hospital serving folks from surrounding villages and communities.
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• Abeadze Dominase Clinic – In the village of Dominase, students will have access to village care ranging from diabetes, hypertension, prenatal, deliveries, and patients coming to the clinic with general illnesses, such as malaria and cholera. Students will also conduct health screenings for members of the community ranging from taking blood pressures, taking blood sugars, changing and replacing bandages, assist clinicians in basic wound care and assessments. The Abeadze Dominase clinic will be a very active place for students to perform skills on patients they will be trained on during the trip.
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Specialists You May Shadow
Students will have the opportunity shadow a variety of physicians, including:
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• General & Speciality Surgeons
• Cardiologists
• Infectious Disease
• Internal Medicine Physicians
• Ophthalmologists
• Pediatricians
• Pulmonologists
• Radiologists
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Procedures & Surgeries You May See
Because the program is real life, you will get to see whatever walks through the door. This can include:
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• Cardiac surgeries
• Abdominal surgeries
• Vascular surgeries
• OB/GYN
• Orthopedic & Trauma surgeries
• Central line placements
• Cataract surgeries
• Paracentesis & thoracentesis
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Each trip is unique based on patient care during the time of your trip.
MedSchoolCoach faculty will be joining on your trip virtually, providing you an opportunity to network and learn from physicians and admissions experts.
Dr. Sahil Mehta
Dr. Mehta is the founder of MedSchoolCoach and has guided thousands of successful medical school applicants. He is also a practicing physician in Boston where he specializes in vascular and interventional radiology.
Founder & Trip Education Leader
"I would say, absolutely, go on this trip. Whether you’re the doctor, you’re the nurse, you get to see things you will never ever see."
Alyson Jett
Penn State
"Going on this Ultimate Med Immersion is one of the best opportunities you can go on if you want to go into a medical career."
Takara Richard
Old Dominian University
Participating in an international medical program can help you gain medical experience and put your application on a whole new level.
Have more questions? Give us a call or chat with us.Â
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every aspect of our lives. We anticipate that by January 2022, it will be safe to travel. In the event that we cancel the trip due to COVID-related travel advisories, participants will be eligible for a full refund. Please review the terms and conditions for further details.
Ghana has been a leader in COVID-19 prevention and care. Currently, masks are mandated in all facilities and public spaces and certainly in and around any health care facilities. Standard COVID-19 sanitary procedures are practiced in all dining areas, hotels, etc. As the trip dates near, we will provide real-time updates based on the situation of the pandemic at that time.
We require that for our high school groups, students be at least 16 years old. There is no minimum age requirement for our college student groups. In both cases, they must maintain a minimum 3.0 grade point average. Your GPA will be verified with your undergraduate institution as part of the enrollment process. If you are an international student, you are welcome to participate, but you are responsible for researching and acquiring any travel documents you may need to travel to your program destination.
No. An initial non-refundable deposit of $500 is required to hold your spot (note, if the trip is canceled by MedSchoolCoach due to any reason, including COVID-related concerns, this deposit will be refunded). Full payment for the remainder of the tuition balance will be charged to your credit card on file 120 days prior to departure.
There will be an average of 5 hours per day of observations on the 9 curriculum days for a total estimation of 45 shadowing hours.
Areas of observation will vary and include cardiovascular, pediatrics, radiology, OB/GYN, family medicine, various surgical procedures, pulmonology, and infectious disease. As the trip dates near, we will provide a detailed itinerary with specialties and departments to will be viewed.
Letters of recommendation can be written by any of our U.S. based physician staff members or by the Ghana based physicians. Letters of recommendation are not guaranteed, however, and their solicitation will be at the student’s discretion.
This will depend on the area of observation and the attending physician’s and/or health care professional’s decision. As participants are not trained or certified health care professionals, any actions that are allowed may range from taking vitals to assessment skills, or basic assists with bandaging, etc. Actual hands-on skill techniques are dependent upon the approval of the host institution and the professionals in charge.
All rooms are rated for double occupancy. If you prefer a single room accommodation, an additional charge of $100 per night will apply.
Single occupancy rooms have limited availability and can be reserved at the time of registration on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have questions regarding single room accommodations you can contact us at enroll@medschoolcoach.com or call us at (888) 381-9509.
All double occupancy pairings will be introduced to their roommates about a month prior to departure so that they may get to know each other.
You need a valid passport to travel to Ghana. For a new adult passport book, there is a $110 application fee and a $35 execution fee.
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If you already have a passport, it needs to be valid for at least another 6 months from the date of arrival in Ghana. If it is not, renew it ASAP so that it returns to you prior to the trip. While there is typically an 8-week turnaround, due to COVID-19, passport processing is taking longer than normal. You could expect delays from anywhere between 4 and 6 months.
Yes. Your program director will direct you through the steps of the visa process upon enrollment.
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A standard visa to Ghana will take about 15 business days to process and will cost about $129. Timing and pricing may vary, so give yourself extra time.
Yes, all trip participants are required to purchase travel insurance. Travel insurance can be obtained at a cost of about $200-250 (prices may vary). Consider Allianz Travel Insurance.
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Additionally, it is recommended you purchase tuition insurance for this portion of your education experience. Consider GradGuard.
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Once you have paid in-full, any refunds will need to be processed through your travel and/or tuition insurance provider, and not through MedSchoolCoach.
Make sure you are up-to-date on all routine vaccines before every trip. The required vaccines include:
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The CDC recommends that you also receive the following vaccines:
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Airfare is not included in the tuition. Your roundtrip domestic airfare from your home city to JFK in New York, NY should be purchased by you. Your international roundtrip flight to Accra, Ghana must be purchased through our partners at McNair/Direct Travel.
You can contact McNair/Direct Travel at dt.com or by calling them at (703) 836-1100.
While in Ghana you will have the opportunity to see and experience many sites and areas of leisure and historical interest. We also realize the desire to explore on your own, and as you are undergrads, we understand that you are not minors needing escorting. You will have time each day or evening that you can explore Accra, the Aburi Botanical Gardens, Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, Makola Market, or just relax by the pool at the hotel. We encourage you to take the time to explore, yet not miss out on any scheduled program or curriculum activities.
Throughout your time in the program you will be with our hosts, as well as MedSchoolCoach staffing. They will provide any sick participants with access to the health care needed through existing partnerships. A benefit of attending the UMI is that you will be around all levels of health care in Ghana at all times. Your program managers will ensure that you always have access to staff during your times of feeling ill.
U.S. credit/debit cards are widely accepted in Ghana, but U.S. Dollars are not. Upon arrival in Ghana, there will be opportunity to exchange U.S. Dollars for Ghanaian Cedi for daily tips and purchases.
Although there will not be chaperones, per se, students will be led by program managers and directors through the entire experience. There will be one program manager for every ~15 students to make sure that everyone on the trip gets specialized attention. Our management team is comprised of experienced educators, nonprofit leaders, and current graduate or medical school level students.
The best method to communicate with friends and family back home is by downloading WhatsApp.
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WiFi is readily available in your hotel and in WiFi Zones throughout parts of Accra and Cape Coast with a purchased WiFi access card.