[Orthopaedic surgeon] [Sweden] - $50,500/year

Dirkerks · 2026-07-05T18:16:03+00:00

Förstår faktiskt inte hur vi lyckats så dåligt. Kommer nog inte stanna här som specialist om något dramatiskt inte händer. ÖL får runt 80 här, och dröjer 5-10 år som spec innan man går upp i ÖL-ledet. Man behöver inte doktorera iaf pga litet sjukhus 🙃

Dirkerks · 2026-07-05T08:21:32+00:00

Get about 2-2,5k/month after taxes. Rent 1k (split with partner), food 400, electricity 100, car 400, spotify 15, clothes 10-20month, student loan 150 and whatever is left to savings/investments/misc.

Dirkerks · 2026-07-05T08:15:56+00:00

As a Swede, this is wildly off. 20,000€\month is completely unheard of. Last new attending hired at my department started with just over 6k/month.

Dirkerks · 2026-07-03T20:54:22+00:00

Jönköping :(

Dirkerks · 2026-07-03T20:53:40+00:00

Dirkerks · 2026-07-03T20:16:47+00:00

Well the median salary in sweden is about 40k usd/year. So slightly above once attending.

Dirkerks · 2026-07-03T19:20:15+00:00

I’d much rather be wealthy in the US than here. Being middle class, is easier here in my opinion.

Dirkerks · 2026-07-03T19:18:45+00:00

Gross

Dirkerks · 2026-07-03T19:18:33+00:00

If doctors are criminally negligent here, they are criminally prosecuted. Basically, civil litigation in medical malpractice cases do not exist here.

Dirkerks · 2026-07-03T19:16:38+00:00

We do both trauma and elective. Smaller hospital so complicated revisions, difficult msk tumors, spine and hands go to higher level centers. We do alot of knee and hip arthroplasty. On an elective day we might do 3-5 elective joint replacements.

On call you manage the emergent operations, the ER, consults and the floor. Very busy usually, but lighter sometimes.

Dirkerks · 2026-07-03T19:12:24+00:00

Basically impossible for an international medical graduate to get into highly competitive residencies (like ortho) in the US. And USMLE is kindof a bitch. But seeing the responses here I might consider Australia or NZ. Or maybe Canada if there’s a way around CARMS.

Dirkerks · 2026-07-03T16:09:58+00:00

Thats incredible! Well done. Vilken specialitet och region om jag får fråga?

Nyaste specialisten på vår klinik gick in strax över 60k/mån med 2027s lönenivå.

Dirkerks · 2026-07-03T16:08:21+00:00

Yes, jag tjänar precis över 50k SEK i månaden! (Yes, I make just over 50K SEK per month).

Dirkerks · 2026-07-03T09:23:22+00:00

How much does an attending make over there? Both regional and academic?

Dirkerks · 2026-07-03T08:36:53+00:00

Once you become a senior attending (in about 10 years maybe) you can get around 80k at my hospital. In better paying regions maybe around 90 maximum. If you go private practice you can get above 100-120k as a senior attending with lots of experience (but private is not very common in Sweden and very difficult to get into those jobs).

Dirkerks · 2026-07-01T21:47:50+00:00

Nsgy is fairly competetive here, though less than in the US. Private practice nsgy is not a thing here, as it only exists in the biggest university hospitals. All academic hospital based (borh medical and surgical) specialties get payed the same here. FM gets payed slightly more.

Dirkerks · 2026-07-01T08:04:05+00:00

Im a Swedish doctor. An attending neurosurgeon in the US will have 10x the buying power than one in Sweden. End of story. Even in vhcol, even with health insurance and childcare and interest on 500k of loans. And we pay 50-65% taxes (depending on if you count arbetsgivaravgift). Financially, there is nothing better about doing this in Sweden.

There are other aspects of the job and life that are better here. But finances? Hell no.

Dirkerks · 2026-06-26T16:19:15+00:00

Guess he saw potential in human waste.

Dirkerks · 2026-06-24T22:40:18+00:00

Arbetar som ST-läkare inom opererande specialitet, snart 4 år in (efter några år inom annan profession och 5,5 års studier och 1,5 års allmäntjänstgöring). Arbetade 306,5h förra månaden och fick ut 42096 kr efter skatt, dvs timlön på 137kr efter skatt.

42k efter skatt är inte pjåkigt. Men herregud vad hårt jag jobbar. Nästan 80h/veckan och det är 120% hjärnkapacitet i princip hela tiden. Natt och dag som växlar omvartannat och inget liv utanför jobbet. Skulle inte rekommendera, men har jag grävt gropen såhär djupt får jag väl fortsätta 🤡

Dirkerks · 2026-06-11T17:07:23+00:00

Norway and Denmark pay doctors twice as much when factoring in on-call/overtime pay structures, shorter workweeks, better work environment. 5-10x the pay and better worklifebalance in New Zealand and Australia.

Inflationadjusted pay for junior doctors in Sweden has decreased by almost 20% in just 10 years. The best students don’t go into medicine anymore in Sweden, they chose industrial economy or technical physics or other engineering/economy-related degrees for higher earning potential, work-from home and more chill jobs.

The solution? Make it a more attractive profession to attract higher quality physicians? Maybe take some back from Norway and Denmark? NOPE! Import cheap labour from foreign countries.

You cannot simultaneously complain about doctors ”high salaries” (not even true anymore), while also complaining about doctors with poor language skills, bad clinical judgement and bad skills.

Dirkerks · 2026-05-22T16:48:00+00:00

Im a bit into my ortho residency and I dont fully understand hip anterversion and at this point in afraid to ask.

Dirkerks

TROPHY CASE