Clinical clerkship in Sweden

[Arwen29]

I'm a medical student in Vienna/Austria (hopefully finished in 1,5 years) and I'd like to do a medical clerkship in Sweden for about 4-6 weeks.
(I'd also like to go to Egypt, but I posted that in another thread)
My questions:
1) is that also possible with basically German and English language skills and just a little bit of Swedish?
2) which hospitals would you recommend?
I'd prefer the very north of Sweden ;-)
3) anything special to know or to take with?

I'd appreciate any hint or help!
Thanks!
Arwen

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[MartianOddity]

I'm a medical student in Vienna/Austria (hopefully finished in 1,5 years) and I'd like to do a medical clerkship in Sweden for about 4-6 weeks.
(I'd also like to go to Egypt, but I posted that in another thread)
My questions:
1) is that also possible with basically German and English language skills and just a little bit of Swedish?
2) which hospitals would you recommend?
I'd prefer the very north of Sweden ;-)
3) anything special to know or to take with?

I'd appreciate any hint or help!
Thanks!
Arwen

I'm not very sure about this matter, but thought that I could contribute with something useful anyways as I live in Sweden (I study abroad in Poland).

1) As far as I know, you should know basic Swedish at least. Swedes generally can speak English well, but as for those who can't, you must be able to make yourself understood. The Swedish language can be easier learned if you have a little knowledge in English I think.

2) Karolinska Institutet is a great university and hospital of Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. It has cooperations with universities abroad and performs very sofisticated medical research.
Otherwise we have a lot of hospitals, it's easier to get a clerkship in hospitals in smaller cities actually than in Stockholm.
Check out the hospitals in the cities where we have our med Schools, that may help you out: Umeå, Lund, Linköping, Malmö, Stockholm, Göteborg and Uppsala.

3) I don't know what to bring...common sense would be a nice thing to bring with you 😀.

 

[Arwen29]

tack sa mycket for your quick answer! 😉
thanks especially for naming the cities with med-schools, that was the thing I could not find out.
I've read a report from a German student, who spent a month in Lulea in the Sunderby sjukhus - which sounds interesting for me as I've always wanted to visit the very north of Scandinavia (I've been on holiday in Älmhult twice and I loved that).

So thanks again, with your answer I'll try to figure out how to plan my trip. 👍

 

[MartianOddity]

tack sa mycket for your quick answer! 😉
thanks especially for naming the cities with med-schools, that was the thing I could not find out.
I've read a report from a German student, who spent a month in Lulea in the Sunderby sjukhus - which sounds interesting for me as I've always wanted to visit the very north of Scandinavia (I've been on holiday in Älmhult twice and I loved that).

So thanks again, with your answer I'll try to figure out how to plan my trip. 👍

Varsågod! 🙂

A clerkship in the north of Sweden sounds like a good idea, the chances of getting one is greater there than if you compare with central Sweden.

 

[Arwen29]

then Lulea sounds like my destination 😉

let's see how this year at university turns out to be, and meanwhile plan my trips to other countries.

Another question:
ist there some sort of dressing-code in Swedish hospitals (like not wearing jeans under the white coat ...), or do students get their coats and scrubs from the hospital?

thanks!

 

[MartianOddity]

then Lulea sounds like my destination 😉

let's see how this year at university turns out to be, and meanwhile plan my trips to other countries.

Another question:
ist there some sort of dressing-code in Swedish hospitals (like not wearing jeans under the white coat ...), or do students get their coats and scrubs from the hospital?

thanks!

I don't really know...as far as I know staff get their coats and scrubs from the hospital, but I'm not certain if this applies to all hospitals. If you have a coat or scrubs, then bring it with you just in case. Other than that, you should be fine as long as you don't wear shorts under the coat or anything offensive. Swedish clothing is wery "along the stream" and most Swedes wear similar clothing.

I've never seen med students in a hospital before to be honest, so I don't know what they wear. In bigger hospitals I could imagine them wearing white coats, but in smaller Health Centres (vårdcentraler in Swedish) I could imagine all the staff (including doctors) wearing scrubs.

Luleå sounds terrific, and while you're at it, check out Umeå as well, it's even farther north than Luleå 😀.

Good luck in your quest!

 

[Arwen29]

hey, great tipp, thanks!
*gettingoutmymapofsweden*

 

[Arwen29]

Luleå sounds terrific, and while you're at it, check out Umeå as well, it's even farther north than Luleå 😀.

hey, I checked it ... on my map Lulea ist farther north than Umea 😕

 

[MartianOddity]

hey, I checked it ... on my map Lulea ist farther north than Umea 😕

Really? My geographical knowledge of Sweden is crap...I think I mistook Umeå for being Kiruna, and Kiruna is the northest you can get and still meet civilization. There's no medical university in Kiruna though.

Then go for Luleå! I'm quite dizzy these days: I have a Head & Neck credit tomorrow. I really needed a pause 😉.

 

[Arwen29]

no offense!

you study abroad 😉

good luck for your head and neck credit (whatever that is ...) 👍

 

[Julian_d]

Hi!

I would also recommend checking out IFMSA and their professional exchange programmes if you haven't done so already. Check out www.amsa.at and http://www.ifmsa.org/scope/ - maybe that's just what you're looking for. I was involved in taking care of the IFMSA exchange here in Stockholm a couple of years ago and I think that it's a great way of arranging a clinical clerkship.

About clothes and dress code. All hospital staff get their coates and scrubs at the hospital. It's the same in all of Sweden. There's no difference in dress code for students and doctors. In other words you don't have to bring scrubs or anything like that with you! Due to the risk of MRSA spread generally speaking no "civilian" clothes are allowed in hospitals - everyone wears exclusively clothes provided by the hospital. The only exception are some out-patient clinics where doctors may not even wear white coats some times or just a white coat over their normal clothes.

By the way, I'm in my final year at Karolinska (I graduate January '08) and I'll be happy to answer any further questions you might have!

Good luck!
/Julian

 

[Julian_d]

Oh, and as for language skills, although some basic swedish probably can be helpful, you can easily get by with only english. This applies to most specialties, except maybe psychiatry where the ability to communicate with patients is especially improtant obviously.

/J

 

[Arwen29]

thanks for your answer, julian!
about the dressing code it's the same in austria. but lately students have to take their own white coat because many people where stealing the coats - and to prevent that they often don't give you the coats.

thanks also for the IFMSA-link - I already had it, but I will check the details soon.

at the moment I'm trying to figure out where to go ... and when ... and how to plan everything.

as you perhaps read I'd like to see the very north of Sweden - so Lulea sounds great for me 😉
but I might make a short-stop in stockholm, too, 'cause I haven't seen that city before. I've been around Älmhult canoeing. and there I saw that most of the people in Sweden speak English - and also German very often (I just met 1 person that didn't speak either language).

so if I have more questions, I'll post them here 👍 😉

 

[flaviapaunas]

hello!i`m a medical student in Romania and i am also interested in doing a clerkship in Sweden for this summer but i dont`t know swedish language.Can you plese help me ?what do i have to do?