The Swiss training in plastic surgery: a special case in Europe?

The author, a young plastic surgeon who just finished his training, evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of the Swiss postgraduate medical training from a critical point of view based on his Canadian experience as a senior resident in plastic surgery. In Switzerland, after an undergraduate curriculum of six years in medicine, the newly qualified doctor looking for specialization has to search for a professor who will teach him the specialty. After a postgraduate training of 7 to 8 years, if the candidate has fulfilled the general conditions, he can submit his candidacy for the specialist certificate to the committee. In Switzerland, an examination will be introduced in 1995 for every specialty. He is of the opinion that the programme has to be upgraded and renewed if the medical community wants to be ready for the integration into Europe.