Working as a doctor is one of the most prestigious professions in Switzerland, but the reality seems quite different: one-third of medical students say they are ready to give up after their first internship in a hospital due to the long hours and heavy administrative workload expected in the years ahead.
This content was published on
3 minutes
RTS
Español
es
Uno de cada tres estudiantes suizos de medicina, dispuesto a dejar la profesión tras las prácticas
According to a study by the Swiss Association of Medical Students, 34% of students want to change career path following their end-of-studies internship in a Swiss hospital. This generally takes place in their sixth year of studies and consists of 6-12 months in a hospital helping assistant doctors.
Marc Reynaud de la Jara, a fourth-year student at the University of Lausanne and one of the authors of the study, said that when students confront the reality of their profession “they are not ready to make all these sacrifices”.
Under Swiss law, they should not work over 50 hours a week, but in many cases, they average 56 hours a week, he told Swiss public radio RTS.
“At the hospital, doctors today spend a small amount of time with patients. Most is taken up by administrative work,” he said.
The digitalisation of processes also poses significant problems, because the systems are not compatible between hospitals, which wastes a lot of time, the study notes.
Many medical students would like to work part-time when they qualify – 80% if possible. But this still represents around 42 hours a week.
“The situation is getting worse and more and more assistant doctors say they see medical errors, especially because of fatigue,” he noted.
Students quickly realise that they will not be able to carry out the kind of medicine they would like and that their sacrifices will not allow them to attain their goals.
“They will be tired, overworked and ultimately not the good doctors they would like to be for their patients,” said the study author.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Workplace Switzerland
Trump tariff shock: how Switzerland is positioning itself
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
An atomic ‘tick-tock’ with Swiss technology heads to space to test the Einstein effect
This content was published on
On Monday, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the ACES set of atomic clocks to measure the effect of gravity on the passage of time.
Swiss Guard swearing-in ceremony postponed following Pope Francis death
This content was published on
The swearing-in ceremony of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, which usually takes place on May 6 each year, has been postponed to a date to be announced next autumn.
Swiss medical device maker Ypsomed to sell diabetes business
This content was published on
Bern-based injection device manufacturer Ypsomed announced on Tuesday that it was selling its diabetes-related activities.
Award-winning Swiss author and scholar Peter von Matt dies aged 87
This content was published on
The Alemannic writer and former professor of German literature Peter von Matt died on Monday in Zurich at the age of 87, following a long illness.
Swiss foreign minister spoke with Iranian counterpart about US dialogue
This content was published on
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis has spoken with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi about the current dialogue between the US and Iran.
Swiss foreign minister appeals for cohesion and dialogue at Expo in Japan
This content was published on
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis called for cohesion and dialogue at the opening of the Swiss National Day at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, on Tuesday.
Switzerland postpones launch of emergency number for domestic violence victims
This content was published on
The launch of the “142” emergency number, which aims to help victims of domestic violence in Switzerland, has been postponed to May 2026.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.