Througout my entire stay, everyone has been very kind and helpful. The day of the introduction was well planned. There was a chance  to get to know the other students, a guided tour to help one find the way around at KI, an introduction to some typical Swedish meals, practical informations and some interesting lectures.

I was told (from other Swedish students living in Denmark) that it could be very difficult to get accommodation at KI. I therefore decided to arrange private housing through acquaintances, because I only had to stay for two months for my clinical practice. However,  after talking to the other students at KI, I had the  impression that it would not have been a problem to get accommodation at KI at all.

I did not participate in any social activities, besides the introduction day, because I was there for such a short time period. However,  I think that the information and possibilities to get socialized were sufficient!

I chose to go on exchange to experience something new, and I chose the Karolinska Institute (later on mentioned as KI) because, KI is one of the most interesting university hospitals my home university have contacts with. My intention was to experience other health care systems/ ICU departments in Scandinavia to learn and bring home some inspiration. My intention was also to bring my learning to life in my home country (Denmark) and hopefully contribute to the development here.  

Before traveling to Sweden, I did not know much about the swedish intensivecare-education for nurses. However, this exchange experience made me discover  that it is a bit different from the Danish education. In Sweden, the intensive-care education is at an academic level. In Denmark, one is  employed at a ICU-department while studying, so  it’s more like a course.

All other information regarding life as an  exchange student, how to applicant, possible scholarships and so on, ware sufficient.

Furthermore, I was not required to be vaccinated, but  I was screened for MRSA before  starting my clinical practice.

I think my stay at KI was very rewarding, and my general impression is absolutely positive. Everyone, the students and the nurses at THIVA, has been very committed and helpful in general, regardless of any questions that I had. 

I did not participate in any Swedish language course as I understand and speak understandably Swedish.

I think the relationship between me, as a student, and my supervisors were excellent. My supervisors were very helpful finding instructions and relevant literature. Slowly, I was guidet to  perform multiple independent tasks related to patient care.

One of the things I learned was that there is much focus on safety and control in correlation to both patients and health professionals, for example safe medication dosage, instructions and flowcharts for everything to minimize eventual mistakes. It is also  my impression that the approach and tone to the patients are more soft and the patients are more involved in their own treatment, than I am used to in Denmark. I think that was my “take-home-lessons”.

I discovered that that the Swedish intensive-care-nurse- education is an academic full-time study unlike the Danish education. 

In Denmark you are employed at a ICU-department, while studying, so it’s (as earlier mentioned) more like a course. For four months you alternate between working one week and go to school the next week. Afterwards, one has to pass an exam to be accepted at the clinical education. The clinical education takes place in another ICU for six weeks and after this, one spend six weeks at a recovery room. Finally, one has to  write an assignment on a patient-related clinical problem. The combination of working one week and studying another week has the advantage that one get to use the new theory in clinical practice. The disadvantage is offhand that the Danish nurses seems less committed to study than the Swedish nurses, because one has to work and study at the same time. The impact of this is that one doesn’t  have the time to reflect. 

At KI/THIVA I had one day a week to reflect and go to the library and study. At the Danish education one has to use the sparetime to reflect and study.

So, from my point of view, I liked the Swedish way of studying  better than the Danish way of studying my education.