Studies
As expected I found the Swedish study environment very practice
oriented and student friendly. The teachers seem to be more down-to-earth and I
always felt welcome to ask questions and try some investigations/ interventions
on my own. For me the combination of theory and practice was just perfect, as I
could gain routine in the important skills, remember theory by the practical
cases I had seen and read more extensively about topics I was especially
interested in. Nonetheless some students complained it was too little theory
for them. So, I conclude it probably depends on what type of learner you are if
you like it or not. What I experienced as a difference in comparison to my home
university is, that people call each other by first name. This leads to a
closer relationship between students and teachers and a more comfortable open-minded
learning atmosphere, I liked a lot.
Another difference in contrast to my home university is the examination
system. Here we had exams with open questions requiring differential thinking
and explaining your thoughts. One exam was even oral. To my mind students learn
a lot more with such exams and its much fairer than multiple choice questions,
we have at home.
Courses
I started my first term with the international surgery course in
Huddinge hospital. Despite the long travel distance this course was fantastic!
It is praiseworthy that Karolinska offers a course in English, thus connecting
medical students all over the world and making us critically questioning
differences in our health care systems. Even the Swedish students do profit
from learning the English terminology. It was a pity, that we were only 6
exchange students in the class, the teachers named, there used to be way more
in the years before. About the content I like the KUA most (a ward ran by
students of various specialties), where we could practice team work and taking
over responsibility for our own patients. With this experience in mind I am not
scared of future shifts anymore 😉. In general, Swedish students
get more responsibility than we do at home, which means that sometimes you will
feel overloaded, but you will become better every day. Though, in the beginning
it would have been nice for us international students to get more guidance, as
we did not have the same skills the Swedish students had yet.
In general, I spent more time in the hospital than I do at home.
Also, we did some night shifts, which I liked.
During the second term I was
attending the courses of Ophthalmology, ENT, Neurology and Psychiatry (term 9
in Stockholm). Like in surgery, there was a lot of practice and seminars. Those
courses are available in Swedish only, but I can absolutely recommend learning
Swedish and taking them, as speaking Swedish enables you to see own patients,
take own notes in the clinic system and brings you closer to patients, doctors
and your classmates. In Ophthalmology and ENT there is some skills training and
patient appointments in small groups together with a supervisor. In Neurology
there are supervised appointments, where you get a patient on your own and then
present him or her to your groupmates and your supervisor. Also, you will have
some ward rotations and a late shift at the emergency room. Psychiatry starts
with two weeks of lectures followed by 4 weeks of ward rotations. Unfortunately,
there you will be mostly listening and watching but some patients can be
interviewed by students and it is really astonishing, what kind of life stories
people can tell. If you are lucky you will spend some time in the MAK (mobile
acute team), where you’ll be able to visit patients at home, too. Very worth
participating are the interview trainings, where one of you will be the patient
and one of you the physician and the third will give some feedback. It is
really fun to try to see the world from the patient’s point of view.