From awe-inspiring scenery to charming mountain villages, Switzerland seems to be a dream world. The country is surrounded by the magnificent Alps and in between the mountains you have either luscious valleys or historic cities. It is truly a place that many regard as a paradise, and not only for the views, the country is also well known for its delicious cuisine, most importantly the world famous Swiss chocolate. In fact, even my favourite chocolate comes from Switzerland, the Toblerone.
Ever since I started medical school, the thought of moving to Switzerland afterwards to work as a doctor has always been in the back of my mind. I believe the idea of moving to Switzerland has crossed every European's mind at some point. I mean aside from the beauty of the land, the country is also associated with high wages, wealth, cleanliness, and often is seen as a utopia of Europe, a country that has everything put well together.
So, I decided to go to Switzerland to work as a medic to see what the country is really like firsthand. I received a summer placement position in a small Swiss village named Wengen at the only doctor's office in the whole village. This office specialised in both internal and emergency medicine due to its remoteness so, I worked in both fields. The village of Wengen is actually a carless village, there are no vehicles other than emergency vehicles and some electric carts. There is also no road to Wengen, the only way to get there is either by hiking, train, or helicopter.
While I did work in Wengen, for the duration of my stay in Switzerland, I did not live in Wengen. I actually lived in a different village called Lauterbrunnen which is located in the valley below Wengen. The village of Wengen itself is located on a mountainside above Lauterbrunnen as you can see here on the map to the right side. Here on the right you can also see a picture of the Lauterbrunnen train station.
To get to Wengen, I took the train from the Lauterbrunnen train station everyday. On sunny days, I took my bike up with me in the train and after work I would bike back down the trail back into Lauterbrunnen. What a rush! To get to Wengen from Lauterbrunnen via train, it is only about a 15-minute journey, to hike the trail to Wengen, it is about an hour hike from the starting point in Lauterbrunnen, and to bike back down the trail into Lauterbrunnen it is also about a 10/15-minute journey.
Now, actually being able to work in Switzerland was a great experience. My hours of the week were Monday to Friday, everyday 8:00-12, then a lunch break between 12-15, and then the rest of the work day from 15:00-18. Sometimes the day went on late and I would stay till 18:30 or 19:00 but nothing longer. One of the most surprising things for me was that for a doctor's office in a small Swiss mountain village, it was extremely busy. There are three doctors working all day at the office busy the entire time with patients. Aside from seeing scheduled patients, the doctors are also on call 24/7 for any medical emergency that may occur within the village. During any breaks throughout the day, like lunch break or after office hours, the doctors sat dutifully and catched up on the required paperwork. The doctors not only acted as the village's primary care physicians, but they also acted as the village's emergency medical services and effectively, as the heads of the village's public health.
I completed my summer clinical placement there in 2021, so about halfway through the COVID pandemic. Now, this was the time where governments around the world were just starting to roll out the COVID-19 vaccine and implementing nationwide vaccination programs. The village of Wengen has a steady population of 1,500 people, but what this populous does not take into account the hundreds of seasonal workers staying in Wengen during the summer and the thousands of tourists that come to visit the town. Now, along with the responsibility of being the village's primary care physicians and emergency medical services, the doctors also had to take on the role of the village's public health and devise a plan to roll out vaccines to the thousands of people in Wengen, without any mistake. To say that these doctor's have a full plate is the least, these are fully dedicated public servants with a true passion to help people.
I could be nothing more than grateful to have spent a summer working alongside and assisting these doctors. I was able to learn a great deal from them, hike and enjoy the glorious views on my free time, learn a new language, and experience a new culture firsthand. One of the coolest things about working in Wengen was the view that I got to see every single day from the office windows.
Working in Switzerland
I realised working in Switzerland that the country is quite strict on work-life balance. If you are supposed to end at 18:00, you end at 18:00. There are only a. few exceptions where people work longer than they are supposed to and obviously one of those exceptions are patients, so in medicine be prepared to not be one of those people.
While working in medicine you might have to stay overtime sometimes, you also should not expect for this to be 2/3 hours unless there is some huge emergency. The wages are quite high in Switzerland but living expenses are also expensive. A big plus of living in a car-free village is everything is quite close so you do not need to spend any money on petrol. The public transportation in Switzerland is also impeccable, you can travel anywhere with public transport which includes trains and busses. Most work contracts cover you health insurance and it seemed to me most employees tend to be satisfied.
My Medical Experience
Being at the time a third year medical student and on a summer placement position in Switzerland, I did a lot more than I expected. As I said earlier, the responsibilities of this small doctor's office in the Swiss Alps are enormous. Due to the remote location of the village, the doctors working there are not only competent in internal and emergency medicine, but also educate themselves to the special needs of any patient within the village requiring indefinite specialised treatment.
With this, I was able to learn about some rare diseases that the doctors were treating on a normal basis as all these patients came here on a regular basis. I also assisted the doctors with:
Castings and repositionings of fractures, sprains, and dislocations
Small procedures done at the office
Responded to medical emergencies with the doctors
Assisted with medical heliambulance evacuations
Administered COVID-19 tests
Administered COVID-19 vaccinations
Stitched wounds
Perfected the Swiss pharmacy
Conducted imaging procedures like x-rays and USG's
Collected blood and lab samples
Admitted patients
Assisted doctors on patient interviews
And all else that I forgot to name
When I say perfected the Swiss pharmacy, I mean I got used to the cabinet at the doctor's office. The reason I bring this up is because there is something special about the remote doctor's offices in Switzerland, they normally act as a doctor's office and pharmacy. This means the doctor can give out the prescriptions right away without a pharmacist, and this is only possible since the town is remote.
The coolest things we did was respond to emergencies. The office has the responsibility to respond to all medical emergencies including mountain rescues that occur within its reach. The rescue helicopter service which operates in the Lauterbrunnen valley area is AirGlaciers, located down in Lauterbrunnen. We often assisted this helicopter service in medical emergency evacuations, rescues, and patient transports. Down below you can see videos of us in action with the helicopter as well as pictures of the actual heliambulance itself.
Other than being able to work with helicopters which was a sort of dream of mine, I was able to learn some pretty cool things about areas that are hit hard by the snow. In winter, Wengen transforms into a completely different village with heavy snowfall. Heavy snowfall, cold temperatures creating ice, and steep hills all just sound like a recipe for broken bones and sprained ankles. Now, it must be pretty hard to use crutches in the winter, right? Well, the doctors have a very good solution for this, they created tiny crampons for crutches. Below there is a video showing this off:
At this point you are probably wondering how we got to emergencies if we did not have the helicopter. Well, we had this very durable off-roading old ambulance. I mean, this thing looked like it was about to die but it got the job done and it did so well. Unfortunately I did not get a good picture of it as when it was out it was in action and I was not taking pictures. Julia, who was with me in Switzerland but working as a medic in Lauterbrunnen, had a much better and new Subaru forester. But, the most important is both vehicles got the job done!
Getting a Clinical Placement
How did I get a clinical placement in Switzerland? Well the truth is all with Julia's help. But if you are looking to do the same, how do you go about getting such a placement? Well, depending on the canton you'll be applying to, it will be a plus if you know the predominantly spoken language within that canton. That said, if you do not know it, while it is an impediment, it is not the end game! You may still find a doctor or hospital to accept you.
The best thing to do is be adamant. Make a list of all the hospitals and doctor's office you are interested in, keep track of their emails and phone numbers, and then write an email to every possible hospitals and clinics. When writing these emails, imagine you are writing a cover letter for a resume, sell yourself well, tell the hospital/clinic why you would be a good addition, and explain why you want to practice in Switzerland. Make sure to attach your CV and any letters of recommendation if you have them. Make a good representation of yourself, you have to be a salesman here, convince the doctor/hospital that they not only want you but that they need you. And remember, be persistent, if you wrote emails but got no response, write back again in two weeks checking in. If still no answer, call the office or hospital.
Time-wise, you need to prepare quite ahead. At the latest you should be starting this process six months before you plan to do your summer rotation but the best would be a year before you plan to start your summer rotation. So, good luck! Be professional, courteous, but most importantly adamant and persistent. You can do this!
Swiss Culture
The Swiss people are stereotyped to be very cold to foreigners, strict about rules, picky, and very cliquey. What did I experience? Well, some to be true and some not to be true. First of all, I would like to go and point out that while there is Swiss culture, it is very different from region to region, you will even see that the architecture within the country changes from region to region. You have four official languages in Switzerland: (1) German, (2) French, (3) Italian, (4), Romansh. Historians say that the only true native Swiss tongue is Romansh, but despite that only about 0.5% of Schweizer's speak the language. The language is still a medium language in one of the countries southeaster cantons named Graubünden, the part of Switzerland that this language is actually native to. This leads me to my next point of discussion, the Swiss cantons. As I mentioned earlier, Switzerland is made up of various regions called cantons (comparable to states in the US), 26 cantons to be exact. Each canton is a bit different in culture and traditions. The country is also separated into 4 regions by language, the German and French parts being the largest, the medium being Italian, and the smallest being Romansh. By this differentiation by language, you can see the biggest cultural disparities.
I worked in Wengen which was predominantly German-speaking, but the region of Bern which has been dubbed to be the sort of centre of Switzerland and is known as being the middle ground for where the German-speaking and French-speaking parts meet. That being said, in Wengen I met mostly German-speaking people. Most people in Switzerland are well educated and they can speak at least 3 languages. In Wengen and Lauterbrunnen, I have to say from my experience the stereotype of Swiss people being very cold is simply not true. With most Swiss patients and locals that I interacted, they were all very interested, open, friendly, and talkative. Most of them were even gregarious I would say!
A stereotype which is true though is that Swiss people are very strict about the rules, maybe not so much the people as the government. What I mean by this is everything has to be done by the procedure and you must have a paper trail for everything, especially in medicine. You can tell this is true especially in this mountainous regions because here, the Swiss have developed a concept called "honesty shops". What is an honesty shop? It is a shop with no clerk or staff, and the customer is expected to pay the total amount of the items that they are taking, the customer is simply trusted to pay the right amount.
All in all I really enjoyed the hospitality of the Swiss people. They are warm welcoming people and strongly preserve their traditions, something which I have enormous respect for. While each place has slightly different culture, something they can all agree on is that they are Swiss. The Swiss are a very patriotic people who really do love their country. It is not uncommon while you are in Switzerland to experience some kind of parade or event embracing their tradition of embracing their country. Now, to finish off this piece, enjoy this patriotic picture of me with the Swiss flag and the flag of Lauterbrunnen!
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