Working as a doctor in Finland

clarissasc · Post by **clarissasc** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:05 pm

Hello, all!

I just found out this site, and I'm going straight to the point here.

I'm a medical doctor here in Brazil, specialised in Neonatology, but also working at Pediatrics ICU's.

I'm moving to Finland for personal reasons, but I need information about working as a doctor there. I understand my certificates are not accepted there, so what I ask is: do you know what i can do to make them accepted more easily? Where should I go? Do you know if I'd have to study Medicine all over again there?

If there are any doctors in this forum who can share their experiences...

Thanks in advance.

Clarissa

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Naavaneito · Post by **Naavaneito** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:59 pm

As far as I know you do not have to study medicine all over again. You have to learn Finnish and then do some sort of extra studies (or maybe training). Here should be some more information:
http://www.teo.fi/uusi/engl_1.htm

smilesalot · Post by **smilesalot** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 12:31 am

Naavaneito wrote:As far as I know you do not have to study medicine all over again. You have to learn Finnish and then do some sort of extra studies (or maybe training). Here should be some more information:
http://www.teo.fi/uusi/engl_1.htm

Yep those are the first people you should contact and register with, the sites all in english and when I registered as a schooled chiropractor I had a couple of questions about transcripts and certificates, when I both emailed them and called them they were prompt to answer my questions.
Im sure you can also contact some of the Hospitals in Finland and ask to talk to someone in admin as well, if their interested (which Im sure they will be) they can tell you what you need to do to prepare to come over.
I think it would be best to make sure you have all your qualifications, schooling and certificates and anything else sent to them as well. Everything must be notarized(take note it might have to be done at your local finnish embassy) as well as official school transcripts. Depending on what is required you might also need an Apostollie

smilesalot

The proper time to do the proper thing is before you have to do it.

Timbeh · Post by **Timbeh** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 10:28 am

I think they're paying a lot of attention to applicant's language skills these days. Some time ago it was on the news that the foreign-born doctors in Finland often have surprisingly poor Finnish skills and it can even impede their work. So I'd say that learning Finnish should be on the top of your priorities.

clarissasc · Post by **clarissasc** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:53 pm

Thanks for the info, guys.

I'm already learning Finnish, and I'll be doing a fellowship program at the University Hospital of Tampere, during May. I'm going to ask more details when I'm there...

flyingyellowpig · Post by **flyingyellowpig** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:24 am

clarissasc wrote:Thanks for the info, guys.

I'm already learning Finnish, and I'll be doing a fellowship program at the University Hospital of Tampere, during May. I'm going to ask more details when I'm there...

Ola ,como vai?Eu acho que vc tem muitas chance de consiguir exercer a sua profissao aqui,pois a Finlandia precisa de medicos em todas as area,A maioria dos medicos e enfermeiros aqui vao para a Noruega,pois o salario la é quase duas vezes do que o de aqui.Um conhecido nosso é italiano e medico aqui,pois me disse aqui é mais facil para um medico extranjeiro.
Se quizes me contactar o meu messenger é charllecosta@passport.com

SaxonManFinland · Post by **SaxonManFinland** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:24 pm

You will need to be almost FLUENT in Finnish..........Which even if you are a gifted language student will take 3 years minimum. You will NEVER learn Finnish unless you speak it everyday, Courses are great but the complexity of the language (3rd most difficult in the world) really means it can only be improved by everyday speech in all situations.

I accept I am rubbish at languages but after 2 years I have made slow progress, and friends tell me it takes 3 to 5 years for a foreigner to speak it well. Fluent speaking foreigners still shy away from translating anything INTO written Finnish, but easy the other way around

interleukin · Post by **interleukin** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:50 pm

Finnish doctors have to be more-or-less fluent in Swedish too (as its pretty impractical to have a patient dying on your shift because their Finnish is not too good and the Swedish-speaking minority has a right to get health care in Swedish), so I guess you would have to learn Swedish too to ever be allowed to work as a doctor in Finland.

blaugrau · Post by **blaugrau** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:57 pm

I apologize beforehand if my question is somewhat naive, as I don't really know how these things work in your field - but would you think switching from practicing as a doctor to research was an option for you? Or maybe that's not so easily done anyway. Just that I think if you found a job in a research environment, fluency in Finnish wouldn't be as key as it is in other positions, since in research English seems to be the generally used language. But of course then it'd be a question of finding suitable positions etc.
Well, just an idea, maybe not a useful one though.

llewellyn · Post by **llewellyn** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:41 pm

Well, my mother just had a Romanian doctor at her local health centre in the countryside, with certain linguistic complications - I think the language criteria can sometimes be, hmm, flexible. Especially the smaller and more remote places are in quite desperate straits with doctors preferring the Helsinki area and Southern Finland in general. There has been some talk of hiring interpreters for the health centres. Would not be surprised if we would end up with such a system..

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:46 pm

I think Swedish speaking members of the public have a right to treatment in Swedish but that does not mean that every doctor needs to speak the language. I would be EXTREMELY surprised if every doctor, dentist, nurse, midwife etc in the country is actively bilingual Finnish/Swedish.

enk · Post by **enk** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:48 pm

SaxonManFinland wrote:Fluent speaking foreigners still shy away from translating anything INTO written Finnish, but easy the other way around

What's that based on?

-enk

SaxonManFinland · Post by **SaxonManFinland** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 5:29 pm

llewellyn wrote:Well, my mother just had a Romanian doctor at her local health centre in the countryside, with certain linguistic complications - I think the language criteria can sometimes be, hmm, flexible. Especially the smaller and more remote places are in quite desperate straits with doctors preferring the Helsinki area and Southern Finland in general. There has been some talk of hiring interpreters for the health centres. Would not be surprised if we would end up with such a system..

Whilst this is hardly the outback, it is very difficult to get Doctors and Dentists to move here. Currently they are in short supply and very few people prepared to move here.

Waiting lists are long, service is bad and the current Doctors and Dentists very stretched by Finnish Standards. MOST personnel are from more Northern disrticts, because moving from South away from the cities is just not happening.

clarissasc · Post by **clarissasc** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:47 am

Thanks everyone for the comments.

I know the fluency is a must, therefore I know this will take time. I'm willing to try. On the other hand, after consulting the embassy and other resources, I found out that I should speak EITHER Finnish or Swedish, but I wouldn't have to do both.

Working in research is something I always wanted to do, but I'm not sure that's something easier to get. It's a good idea, though, and I'm gonna look for this possibility also.

To flyingyellowpig: tudo bem?

Até onde eu vi, é muito mais fácil conseguir uma autorização para atuar como médico por aí se a faculdade foi européia, por isso deve ter sido relativamente fácil para o seu amigo. De qualquer forma, se você souber de alguma informação a mais, ou se o seu amigo souber...

Vou te adicionar no messenger, ou melhor, ia te adicionar... Tá dando uma mensagem que esse endereço não existe. :p

Karibu · Post by **Karibu** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 8:25 am

I recall reading from some site that nowadays doctor's don't have to speak both Finnish and Swedish in order to work as a doctor. Just as Clarissac said. I recall this was due to a problem that no foreign doctor's were able to work here, unless their native language was either of the languages in question. This is practical, for I find it rather idiotic that for example skillful doctor form UK wouldn't be able to work in Lappeenranta (eastern Finland) if he/she wouldn't speak Swedish (but would be fluent in English and had a decent Finnish). There's not that much Swedis speakers in Lappeenranta. I think Russia would be more beneficial there.

Anyway, that was just an example, but you can see the point.

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