help me on Sweden

[need4med]

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Hi everybody, I am new member. I just finished med school in Greece and I am interested in working as a HO and afterwards doing pediatric residency in Sweden. I am not yet a fluent speaker of the language. Does anybody know how and where to apply, generally where to start looking- I am a bit lost. Thanks in advance.

 

[(nicedream)]

Do you want to ho in Greece or the US? If you want to do it in the US, you will have to do it in Nevada.

 

[Fascia Lata]

hi nicedream, what do u mean by "u have to do it in Nevada" ?

 

[need4med]

Thank you nicedream for your time though I don't understand what you mean-I just want to work as a house officer for start-

 

[Hawk22]

I believe that nicedream was making a pretty funny comment about working as "HO", which is of course only officially legal in Nevada (the only state with legalized prostitution).

After re-reading your post I knew you meant "HO" as "House Officer", but I also thought of the funny prostitution reference first too.

As to the original question, I'll let other folks weigh in on the application process. I'm just as lost as anyone else here. 🙂

 

[Fascia Lata]

lol, I missed that one.. I kept looking it up and googling whether foreign doctors are allowed to work as house officers in Nevada..lol...this made my day.. I spent like a couple of hours researching that...

 

[Winged Scapula]

Moving to the International Forum...

 

[Miklos]

Hi everybody, I am new member. I just finished med school in Greece and I am interested in working as a HO and afterwards doing pediatric residency in Sweden. I am not yet a fluent speaker of the language. Does anybody know how and where to apply, generally where to start looking- I am a bit lost. Thanks in advance.

http://www.sos.se/hs/bu/eu/eng.htm
http://www.sos.se/hs/bu/eu/working_in_sweden.pdf

 

[need4med]

thanks Miklos
though not very helpful
This site is for registering to their health system something which is easy for EU doctors. Some friends said that starting as a H.O (AT in Swedish) is an automaticated procedure and the duration of this obligatory post is 21 months at the end of which you take an exam. If somebody knows about this procedure please reply.

Nicedream that was a fantastic joke, you made my day-thanks

 

[f_w]

You are probably referring to the 'AT' which is a rotating internship type of thing. The swedes have to do that before they can go into 'ST' (accredited specialist training) positions.

Getting into AT positions as a non-swede is very difficult from what I hear. There is however a 'back-door'. I believe it is called 'vikar laekare'. Individual hospitals or clinics can hire EU qualified physicians as non-accredited residents. Once you have the equivalent time and rotations to an 'AT', you can get your eligibility for specialist training positions evaluated by the socialstyrelsen (national health board).

In past years, sweden wasn't training enough physicians to fulfill domestic demand. As a result, entry for EU trained physicians was possible at several levels (e.g. through the 'vik' backdoor). The hospitals and primary care clinics (vardcentrale) where so hard up for physicians that they would pay for 4 week language courses before people started. In the meantime however, the personnel crunch has apparently subsided. Now, they are much more selective and prefer candidates from the EU space who have a specialist qualification and swedisch language skills.

The webpage of the swedish physicians union might be of help to you:

http://www.slf.se/templates/ArticleSLF.aspx?id=2185

Hiring of physicians is done by the 'landsting' which is sort of a provincial health department. Depending on how desperate they are (== further north), they might still be interested to help you out with the paperwork and a language course. You can find a list of the landstings in the brochure on the slf website:

http://www.slf.se/upload/Lakarforbundet/In English/workinginsweden.pdf

I would start in the north and go south from there. To make it easy for you, here are the links to norbottens landsting:

http://www.nll.se/nodsida.aspx?id=12333

And here is their brochure for AT internships:

http://www.nll.se/upload/IB/lg/pers/informationsmaterial/ATenglish.pdf

And for specialist training:

http://www.nll.se/upload/IB/lg/pers/informationsmaterial/STenglish.pdf

 

[need4med]

thanks you are really helpful
practically this means that it's very difficult to start residency even in the traditionally easy-to-get Sweden.
for your records starting residency in Greece takes from 3(family medicine) to 8 years (dermatology)

 

[Max_Berry]

How far north are you willing to go?

I am a last year med student in Gothenburg with plans on returning to the U.S. Many, many exceptions can be made for those willing and qualified to move to the "back-country" dangerously close to the arctic circle (Lappland). I would probably die of combined dark and cold, but if you really want it....it may be possible. Hey, AT is only 18 months at the less desirable places. Contact your embassy and ask about help finding an AT in one of those places. Good luck