If You Don’t Like Your Place/Specialty/Life, Make a Change, Don’t Complain

If You Don’t Like Your Place/Specialty/Life, Make a Change, Don’t Complain

At the upcoming Motol Day of Imaging in Paediatric Radiology (programme), Stanford radiologist Dr Anna Seehofnerová will give a lecture entitled Skeletal Dysplasias. In the following conversation, she advices on how to choose one's career path carefully and summarises the differences in medical education and clinical training btween the Czech Republic and the US.
The educational event is organised by the Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, and Motol University Hospital in collaboration with Stanford Medicine. It is scheduled for 29 May 2025.
Štítky
2. LF UK
Masterclass

 

You completed your medical education and clinical training in the Czech Republic, specifically in Brno, before joining Stanford University. What advice would you give to Czech medical students who are considering a similar path toward academic or clinical work in the United States, particularly at institutions like Stanford?

Choose your specialty wisely, and not with ulterior motives of becoming a Stanford university affiliate. You should enjoy your work. I didn’t plan to go to the States, it was just a serendipity in my professional pathway. If you don’t like your place/specialty/life, make a change, don’t complain.

Based on your experience working in both the Czech Republic and the United States, what would you say are the biggest differences in medical education, clinical training, or hospital culture?

Medical training is more structured in the States, with teaching sessions, multiple lectures and talks every week. Residency does feel more like a training, not a standard job. In addition, all resident’s and fellow’s reports are always cosigned by an attending.

As someone actively involved in sports, do you think it’s important for medical or academic institutions to promote physical activity among students and healthcare professionals? How would you compare the support for sports programs at universities in the United States versus those in the Czech Republic?

Of course, it is important. But I don’t have enough information to be able to compare it, since every Czech and American university offers various program.

Související

Vytvořeno: 23. 5. 2025 / Upraveno: 23. 5. 2025 / Bc. Luděk Liška