American Doctor Looking for Work in Italy

Well, yes I am a UK-based Italian hospital doctor, if that helps.
And am a languages junkie myself (I speak arabic urdu hindi and a bit of persian for good measure lol).

You are right: all nation-run systems need doctors. However, the financial crisis determined a contraction in the already reduced number of available posts both for doctors and nurses, with A&Es in some distric general hospitals manned by one (ONE!) physician colleague and a triagist at any given time (you can imagine the 'fun' when a majax call comes through).
On top of that, all local health districts are adopting an excessively liberal approach to professional contracts where only fixed-term posts are available. And on top of that, the Italian University system produces too many doctors. Many of your generation (the last one that did not have to sit a competitive entry exam) were left jobless. These people ended up locuming as 999 rapid response doctors for the duration of their professional lives, with all the stress, uncertainty and unsociable hours that it entails.

Alternative medicine in Italy is very popular with the general public. Italian people are very health-conscious, their level of education is quite high, and some practices such as herbal medicine, acupuncture, aromatherapy and homeopathy are widely employed, even in state-run general practices. Professional bodies are a recent innovation, there is a lot of fragmentation and finding the right one will depend on your areas of expertise.

Regarding an italian licence to practice, I am exploring the issue at present. It seems that we cannot get a licence unless we get a post first (I am a UK graduate, my situation is not too different from yours in legal terms, despite my EU citizen status). Which is a bit of a catch22 really. I will let you know everything I'll be able to find out.

Last thing: SPAs are health and beauty centres (by that I mean big Thermae of Ancient Roman legacy, like Fiuggi, Abano, Saturnia...). They offer a wide range of therapeutic services based on thermal water and muds, together with advanced cosmetic and alternative medicine consultations. And they accept private self-referrals and sometimes primary care referrals from GPs. Mind you, Italy is one of the few countries that still offers medical school modules on the therapeutics of mineral waters. And they have been running for at least 80 years.

Probably in the current climate, which is very serious, people might not be inclined to spend money on complementary/alternative medicine treatments, but by the time you get registered with the ONM (the Ordine Nazionale dei Medici Chirurghi) things might have improved.

no competitive entry exam?  wow, that's unheard of!  we have always had one. 

i dind't understand what you meant by a 'liberal policy' with 'fixed term contracts.'  liberal here means lliking obama.    not sure what it menas in the italian medical context?  are you saying that all positions now require a contract?  we have that here as well.  is that new in italy?  or are you saying that they generally a re short term contracts and not necesssarily renewable?  that wouldn't seem to be good for a practice.  patients would have no continuity.  here, we generally get a 1-2 year initial contract, but if things are going well for the doc and teh employer, they almost always automatically renew.

nice chatting with you.  good luck in your endeavors.  wasn't aware we'd need a job before gettign a license.  seems a llittle like teh cart before the horse. 

won't try to thank you in any language but to say grazie.

jeff

'Liberal policy' is an euphemism that I took the liberty to use in this context. What I really mean is reckless and unfair. But if you ask me, that does not apply to Obama 
Obviously we have had job contracts since the invention of state law (a hefty innovation kindly offered by the ancient Roman Empire).
What I do mean is that doctors new to the system are employed almost exclusively on a fixed term basis. I know many doctors who are well past their certificate of completion of training, who are still employed on a fixed term basis and risking their job and salary every 6 months.
It is definitely bad practice for everyone affected. Patients and doctors.
As part of your language learning, I suggest you try your hand at italian newspapers. It will be hard at first but if you have some spanish under your belt you will not only progress very quickly, but also learn a lot on the current sociopolitical situation in Italy. It will definitely shape your experience of 'coming back home.'

I profoundly believe you should have all the rights and help to come over here, if it's where your heart lies. Like I said, everything I will find out on registration, I will feed back to you.

So, good luck to the both of us really.
x

yes, buona fortuna to both of us, and thanks again!@  j

just had to share--received my packet in the mail today from the consulate with all my dichiarazione di valore (high school, college, master's, and medical) and for my medical license (though they are calling that one a 'dichiarazione consulare' for some reason--hope it's just as good).  very exciting for me.  it has taken me nearly a year of hard work, document gathering, translating, etc to get to this point.  feels good, even if it doesn't go any farther.

ciao!