We were required to complete 16 weeks of clinical electives during our 4th year, which most students choose to do in the US. It may be possible to get course credit for some of your core rotations in the 3rd year, by doing them in US. You would need permission from the Dean and the agreement of the course professor. Most likely you would have to take each course's final exam in Poznan in order to get full credit. I think it would be realistic to arrange something like this for Psych and Surgery. Peds and Int Med might also be possible. You would have to do OB/Gyn in Poznan for sure, as that course prof will not give you permission to do it abroad. Its not a prob as Ob/Gyn is one of the best courses offered in the 3rd year. The hospital is awesome and there are plenty of opportunities for hands on experience on the in the O.R., on the L&D floor, and on the wards in general.

I've copied and pasted a reply post that I wrote from the "Studying in Poland" thread. I covered this topic in more depth there. Let me know if you have any other questions.

ctk


highlandpoet wrote:
hi ctkMD2003
i just wanted to ask you whether poznan, has clinical rotations in the u.s ,
and if any other schools have clinicals in the u.s, i'm studying in ukraine and have a lot of freinds from poland (esp krakow) and they've never heard of this.
and for those people who think that polish schools, are a waste of time, try coming to ukraine or russia, you'll have a field day.
thx


Hilandpoet-

I'll try to shed some light on this subject....

YES. The Poznan University of Medical Sciences (formally known as Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences) does allow students to take electives in the US. Each student is required to complete at least 16 weeks of electives during their 4th year, either during the 1st semester or 2nd semester. Most students actually try to arrange more than 16 weeks of elective coursework in the US, as it is a great opportunity to "shop yourself" to programs that you are interested. More importantly, it is an important exposure to what life will be like in residency.

The University itself does not arrange the elective coursework for students. Each student must apply on their own (which really isn't that bad- contact the program you are interested in doing an elective at, ask if they accept visiting students and if so, get an application sent to you or download it from their website and go from there).

Back to my previous point about doing more than 16 weeks of electives in the US....I ended up doing 20 weeks (5 electives). It is possible to do more than this for the really motivated student. For example, the 3rd year of studies usually finishes at the end of June, so techinically speaking, if one chooses to do their electives during the 1st semester, they would have from July through January to do electives. Collectively that is roughly about 28 weeks or 7 electives.

I've heard that the Akademia Medyczna (Medical Academy) in Lublin & in Katowice, do have affiliations with some hospitals in the US. I'm not completely sure what the requirements are, but I have been told that one needs to successfully pass Step 1 in order to do their 3rd year and 4th in the US. For more info, you might want to contact them directly. Please be aware that Lublin and Katowice are affiliated with HMI, and I don't recommend them to people. HMI is very sketchy.

The bottom line is this... if you want to study in Poland, your best choice is to stay with the top 2 universities: #1 UMS in Poznan or #2 Jagellonian Univ in Krakow.

Sorry to have digressed a bit. I hope I've answered your question(s). Feel free to post any other ?'s. I'll do my best to respond promptly.

Best Regards,
ctkmd2003