Learn how medical students combine study and work

In the morning – for couples, and in the afternoon – for a shift or in the office: Belarusian universities are actively involved in the initiative “Study and work” – a joint project of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, which allows senior students to officially find employment in their future specialty before receiving a diploma. There are job fairs for children, so you can find a part-time job right at the university. Correspondents of “SB Belarus Today” learned from BSMU students how they manage to combine study with duty and how much they pay for it.

About 40 vacancies were presented by the 10th City Clinical Hospital of Minsk. In the department of anesthesiology and intensive care are invited nurses and nurses. The format of job fairs is extremely convenient: future specialists can immediately find out about the schedule, departments, salary and even sign up for an interview, says Dianna Pushnyakova, a HR specialist at the clinic:

- We already have 38 students, mostly of the third and fourth year. Young people go willingly, not for money, but for real experience. This is the best way to see how hospital routines work and understand what kind of medical specialty you like. This time, young people were most interested in resuscitation and ophthalmology. Earnings of employees directly depend on the position, the number of shifts worked. For example, a part-time nurse can receive about 500 rubles.

Five-year student Dmitry Sasim came to the fair as a consultant. He shares his experience on how to combine work with study. He works part-time as a paramedic of the exit brigade at the 2nd substation of the City Ambulance Station: I work in an energy-saving mode, I do not take many duties. Usually it is either two night shifts a week or one full day. If I feel I have strength, I can take extra duty. But for myself I immediately decided: study cannot be pushed to the background. So even in the shift I find time to prepare - the textbook is always with me. Dmitry earns about 800 rubles, but admits that the main thing for him is not money, but a huge experience, when the theory is immediately worked out in practice. Dmitry remembers his first trip as part of the intensive care team so far - they went to a patient with pulmonary edema. The duty was not easy: then the student for the first time took a cardiogram, recognized the pathology and together with colleagues saved a person.

The fifth-year student of the medical faculty Ksenia Parfenchikova began working in the second year - first as a nurse in the clinic, and from the fourth year she moved to the position of a nurse in the gastroenterological department of the 432nd Main Military Clinical Medical Center of the Armed Forces.

- I have not regretted my choice for a day, she said. Any practical case is remembered much better than the page of the textbook. You see the patient live, you study the medical history, appointments, you put IVs, you give injections. Then, in class, you just remember what you’ve actually experienced at work.

A salary of about 700 rubles is a nice bonus to the scholarship. Ksenia saved up for a phone, a tablet and a trip to St. Petersburg. There is enough to buy stylish and bright medical suits.

Some medical students begin their career already in the first year, says Vadim Borisyuk, head of the ideological work department of BSMU. According to our estimates, today about one in three students receive professional experience – independently or as part of student teams. For example, 28 people are now working in the City Clinical Emergency Medical Hospital under the labor project “Healer”. If in ordinary practice a student is more likely to act as an observer under the supervision of a curator, then here he is fully involved in the work and performs real tasks for the care and treatment of patients. Everything is official: with young people enter into fixed-term employment contracts, and the schedule is made so that shifts do not interfere with classes.

Job fairs in BSMU are planned to be held throughout the academic year. The list of employers includes a variety of institutions: from republican scientific and practical centers to hospitals and even boarding houses. At the first meeting in September, nine employers offered 180 vacancies.

azanovich@sb.by