General information
It has been recently much easier for the European doctor to move around the European Union (and to/from Switzerland) than to the United States. To obtain the American medical license is more complicated, however, the satisfaction from working as a physician in the United States is worth the extra effort.
Advantages:
- cutting edge medicine and medical science
- residency programs (= specialty training) probably the best in the world (along with Canada)
- high value of physicians and recognition in the society and solid financial compensation
- employers truly value their physicians, support their continuing medical education and promptly solve organizational and other problems at the workplace; physician is “only” a physician who makes decisions no one else can make = whatever can be done by other staff physicians do not do (i.e. you are not a scribe, nor secretary, nor manager as is usual for physicians in Europe)
- after the residency training (that is shorter than in Europe) American physicians work fewer hours in general than in Europe
- board-certified physicians (= after residency +/- fellowship) do not fall into any hierarchical system as it is well known in Europe; there are site or department directors but they are not responsible for physicians’ decisions and do not supervise them; every position (even the site director’s) is replaceable if the person is deemed to be unsuitable (unlike often life-time untouchable high positions in Europe)
- re-certification (specialty exam) is required every 10 years as well as many hours of continuing medical education resulting in a high quality and good knowledge of coworkers and consultants
- many hospitals and medical centers are private and truly compete with each other which leads to better medical care
- English is easy to learn
Disadvantages:
- Cultural differences from your home country
For detailed information about the US see the drop-down menu "USA" on the banner above
The item „USMLE exam“ opens into three more sub-menus