In Finland, basic medical education is given in five universities: Helsinki,
Tampere, Turku,
Oulu and Kuopio. There is substantial competition for places in medical schools. The number of
applicants is four or five times higher than the number admitted. Numbers of students admitted to medical schools have varied greatly in recent
decades. The FMA has tried to persuade the authorities to bring numbers of
students into correspondence with numbers of doctors needed. Numbers of medical
students were highest in the late 1970s, when the five universities were
enrolling over 600 students a year. By the mid-1990s, the number of students had fallen to approximately 360. It
has since increased to about 600. The view
of the FMA is that adequate supply of doctors to public health care should be
ensured by improving the remuneration and working conditions of doctors rather
than by increasing numbers of students. Studies have traditionally involved an initial two-year preclinical period of
mainly theoretical courses in anatomy, biochemistry, pharmacology etc. However,
students now have contact with patients from the beginning of their studies. A
problem-based learning method has been introduced. All medical schools have
research programmes for students who wish to undertake scientific work.
Inclusion of clinical cases in various courses and preclinical subjects is
becoming common. During the clinical period of their courses, students participate in the work
of various hospital and health-centre departments, learning necessary medical
skills. After each clinical course, students have to pass a final examination in
the specialty. Basic medical education lasts for some six and a half years and leads to the
degree of Licentiate of Medicine. In collaboration with Finnish universities and specialist societies, the FMA works to develop basic and postgraduate education and to further the professional competence of doctors. Clinical work is an essential part of the basic education. Finnish medical education is highly regarded internationally.
Almost two thirds of all Finnish physicians are specialists. The number of specialties in Finland is 49, of which 16 require five years’ training and the other 33 take six years to complete. As a supplement to the official system of specialisation, the FMA has introduced a number of special competences. These relate to specific specialty areas in which particular skills of a demanding nature are required. Suggestions for the establishment of new areas of special competence usually stem from the specialist societies. Every January, the FMA organises Finland’s largest medical congress: Lääkäripäivät - the Finnish Medical Convention. The Association also provides various other continuing medical education opportunities for its members throughout the year. The FMA has undertaken pioneering work in improving the quality of health care. The Ethical Guidelines for the Quality Assessment of Health Care, which have been approved by the Board of the Association, state that “each doctor must continually evaluate the quality of her or his work and the level of her or his skills by means of self-assessment procedures”.
Each year, the Association confers a quality award on a project that has been
shown to benefit the provision of health care and the treatment of patients.MEDICAL EDUCATION
Problem-based learning
Developing medical education
Special competences
Finnish Medical Convention
Improvement of the quality of medicine
FMA >
Medical Education Förbund
The Finnish Medical Association -
Health Care and the Medical Profession in Finland
Association
