Clinical Exchange in Japan

Departments: Otorhinolaryngology, Ophthalmology
Period: 2014/02/10 – 2014/03/07

This is the first time that I became an exchange student to other country so I cherished this opportunity a lot. I chose otorhinolaryngology and ophthalmology department for further learning due to my interest and curiosity of these two departments. Dr. Yoshida was in charge to teach me mainly of these two weeks in otorhinolaryngology department. He and other doctors took me to see many important and some uncommon surgeries such as external meatus squamous cell carcinoma, cholesteatoma removal, vocal cord repaired by fat injection, skull base osteosarcoma, cochlear implant. Some of these surgeries that I had seen before in our hospital but some of them were really rare like vocal cord repaired by fat injection! This made me very excited when seeing it! Furthermore, when I was in the operation room, all of the doctors tried their best to teach me and answered my questions despite some of their English weren’t so fluent. This was the thing that really moved me and touched my heart! Also, when I was in the outpatient clinic, I saw how sophisticated the process of diagnosis and treatment to OSAS was in Nagoya University Hospital. I should suggest this process to our doctors in Taiwan.

As for ophthalmology department, in these two weeks, although it’s very short but I learned a lot, not only the clinical knowledge like I had learned in Taipei Medical University but also the difficult and skillful technique here. Dr. Ueno was in charge to do some orientation to me and taught me a lot in these days. I remembered the last time when we were in the ophthalmology department of Wan Fang Hospital which is one of our three hospitals, at that time, we only saw some very often diseases such as floater, high myopia, cataract, glaucoma or retinal detachment. Nonetheless, in the ophthalmology department of Nagoya University Hospital, I saw some special cases like Marfan syndrome’s ectopia lentis, macular hole and important surgery like strabismus treatment. These were the operations that really impressed me and I would never forget them! Furthermore, there’re some times that I could operate the simulator for practicing such as cataract surgery, vitrectomy, vitreous membrane removal, LASER for proliferative vessels and slit lamp. These techniques are so important for every ophthalmology surgeons that we should practice a lot. As the saying goes, “Repetition is the mother of skill. ” and “Practice makes perfect.”. Only if we keep progressing then we can become a master in our field.

Finally, I’m very grateful and appreciate to all of the doctors in these two departments because all of them are so kind and passionate to teach me! Also, I have to thank Yuko san, the secretary of NU International Affairs Office, who helped me connect to the doctors and arrange my entire schedule. Last but not least, I love this city a lot but I love Nagoya University Hospital the most!

Photo with doctors in otorhinolaryngology department

Experiencing the cutting-edge technology in otorhinolaryngology department

Photo with Dr. Ueno in outpatient clinic of ophthalmology department