Medical Specialty / Working as doctor in Finland

[HelMD]

Hi everyone

I'm new here and I'd like to ask something. When a medical student graduates, what does he need to study to apply for a medical specialty?

I mean, I am a Portuguese girl whom studies Medicine and who is thinking of emmigrating to Finland, in particular to Helsinki. It was always a hidden dream of mine but now that my country is a mess, and with a lack of opportunities to offer, I am really thinking of moving to Finland. My doubt is if it's a good call to go right after graduating and learn the medical specialty there or learning here and then emigrate.

I've been learning some about that and I read that the doctors must speak Finnish fluently. I don't speak Finnish, but I do speak English. Is there some intensive course of Finnish related to health?

Thanks for all the help you can give me

[Rip]

Unless there is Finnish guy in the picture somewhere, I do wonder wouldn't you have it easier in either UK or some country with a language that at least resembles Portuguese. Sure, if you can it through you have pretty much guaranteed employment with a good salary.

For starters, have you tried looking at the web pages of medical faculties of local universities, such as this: http://www.med.helsinki.fi/english/spec ... tails.html

[HelMD]

Lol, there isn't any finnish guy in the picture. My boyfriend is portuguese as I am but I really love Finland and I've heard so far that UK for doctors isn't so good anymore.

When you said "Sure, if you can it through you have pretty much guaranteed employment with a good salary." are you reffering to Finland ?

Tks

[Rip]

When you said "Sure, if you can it through you have pretty much guaranteed employment with a good salary." are you reffering to Finland ?

There is a shortage of physicians here (the local trade union has been successful in lobbying to keep the intake to universities (too) low), so I assume the unemployment among natives would require some grave personal fault. Salaries vary, interestingly among the higher ones are those paid for people who can stand being in a middle of nowhere in a local health care centre (as a negative point, the boyfriend's employment prospectives approaching possibly zero at the same time), but certainly compared to average salaries they are quite OK elsewhere too (It is perfectly possible at the same time that they would be noticeably better still in some other European countries). Somebody else here can probably give better actual figures, so I'll skip trying to do that.

- but you need to learn the language. Helsinki area actually has in the public sector quite a many foreign born doctors working. On personal experience, while the language proficiency of those that I have met I would find simply laudable if they were for example engineers or in practically any other job, I still have most of the times left feeling bit sorry they weren't natives. It is a job where being able to communicate well, both ways, is extremely important.

[HelMD]

There is a shortage of physicians here (the local trade union has been successful in lobbying to keep the intake to universities (too) low), so I assume the unemployment among natives would require some grave personal fault. Salaries vary, interestingly among the higher ones are those paid for people who can stand being in a middle of nowhere in a local health care centre (as a negative point, the boyfriend's employment prospectives approaching possibly zero at the same time), but certainly compared to average salaries they are quite OK elsewhere too (It is perfectly possible at the same time that they would be noticeably better still in some other European countries). Somebody else here can probably give better actual figures, so I'll skip trying to do that.

- but you need to learn the language. Helsinki area actually has in the public sector quite a many foreign born doctors working. On personal experience, while the language proficiency of those that I have met I would find simply laudable if they were for example engineers or in practically any other job, I still have most of the times left feeling bit sorry they weren't natives. It is a job where being able to communicate well, both ways, is extremely important.

I didn't understand what you meant about the salaries, sorry And yes, I wouldn't like to go to places in the middle of nowhere. I prefer living in a urban city which pays me less. I'm not seeking Finland as a money hunter. I actually think that the quality of like is way better than Portuguese but if they pay me less in Helsinki or Tampere, for instance, I'd rather stay in one of them. My boyfriend, who is studying Engineering, wouldn't have a job in places near Santa's house He could live in Finland, speaking English and learning Finnish to help him in the daily life but I really need to learn the language. I'd love to do that but I doubt if there is any type of course to learn Finnish related to health as doctors have their own vocabulary.

[KanssaKuu]

If you are planning to become a specialist, i.e. undergo residency training, you can do in Portugal and then move here. Being a EU citizen, you don't need to pass any exams to certify your diploma. I heard that Tampere University organises preparatory courses for foreign doctors, in Autumn, but as far as I understood, they are mostly aimed at Non EU doctors, that are obliged to pass exams in order to work in Finland.
You can start learning Finnish by yourself and then start looking for the unpaid internship at first, thus you will faster deepen your medical Finnish here.
Good luck! )

[HelMD]

Hi tks for the reply!

Yes, I think that taking mt internship here in Portugal and then emmigrating is better. And during my internship here, I can take classes of Finnish.
Tampere course is a great idea after knowing how to speak the non-medical Finnish. Unpaid internship isn't s good though. I would need financial resources to survive and in Finland, quality of life is better but more expensive than here.

[Upphew]

http://www.valvira.fi/en/licensing/prof ... u_citizens