Clinical Exchange in Japan

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Experience report

Name: Dandan Zheng
School: Shanghai JiaoTong university, school of medicine
Study Period: 2017/11/20-2018/01/26
Departments: General surgery, orthopedics, urology, nephrology

It is really a great honor for me to be selected as a member of exchange program to Nagoya university. Frankly, I have never been to Japan before and it can be really exciting to visit a foreign country for the first time. For the past 10 weeks, I learned a lot about clinical practice, medical knowledge and medical system in Japan and I really enjoy my time here.

In my 10 weeks of rotation, I visited 4 departments: General surgery department, orthopedics department, urology department, nephrology department. The doctors and teachers in all four departments were really kind and patient. Not only did they teach me medical knowledge, but they also explain a lot of specific Japanese culture to me, which is quite helpful.

The first 4 weeks I rotate in the general surgery department. There are 2 separate teams in this department and I was assigned to general surgery department 2. In the morning I usually came to the office at 8:30 and I would go to the surgery room to observe surgery. The general surgery team was divided into small groups according to the surgeries they perform. Most of the time I stayed with upper gastrointestinal tract group. I observed surgeries such as subtotal and total gastrectomy, esophagectomy, hepatectomy and DPRHP. Dr Kanda and Dr Tanaka was kind enough to explain the basic information of the patient and the procedure of the surgery. I was even able to participate in a subtotal gastrectomy. Every Wednesday morning, I would join the morning conference. Although the conference is completely Japanese, Dr Takami and Dr Hayashi would often explain them to me and I can also understand the Chinese character. On Tuesday and Thursday when there was no surgery, they arranged lectures, ward round and endoscopy simulation. I am really interested in endoscopy so I spent a lot of time in simulation room. At the end of the session, I was lucky enough to attend the end of year party with my teachers and it gave me a chance to experience a traditional Japanese party.

I spent the next 2 weeks in orthopedics department. Since I want to be a spine surgeon in the future, I spent most of my time in the spine surgery group. Unfortunately, there was only one spine surgery arranged at that period of time. Dr. Kobayashi introduce the patient condition to me and we discussed what approach we should use for this patient. In this surgery I had a chance to take a glance at the advanced MISSR system. For the rest of the time, I would join other groups and watch different kinds of surgeries. I spent every weekday in the surgery room and busy studying the procedure of different surgeries.

The third department I stayed in was urology. In urology department, every Thursday is Da Vinci surgery day and I was really lucky to observe 4 robotic surgeries and get to know how this surgery system works. I also observed a neuromodulation surgery and I was really surprised when I heard that this surgery is included in the medical insurance. Days in urology department was short yet unforgettable.

The last 2 weeks was in the nephrology department. Prof. Maruyama introduced me to the group in the first day. One important diagnostic tool in kidney disease is pathology, after several pathological meetings, I was able to identify basic renal pathological images. I also participated in the hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis round as well as the out-patient clinic. During my stay, I discussed with my teacher about the difference in health care system between china and japan. Every Thursday, Dr. Yasuda would give me a private lecture about chronic kidney disease and this was my favorite part.

Apart from all the amazing medical experience, I also enjoyed a lot exploring japan after work. During the evening conference in general surgery department and nephrology department I was given the opportunity to experience Japanese-style bento. I spent my weekends in exploring other Japanese cities such as takayama, otaru, Osaka, Kyoto, etc. Thanks to the warm and helpful Japanese people, my trips all went smoothly.

Finally, I would like to thank all the doctors in those four departments, as well as all the staffs in international affairs for being so patience and for giving me such a memorable time. I had a fantastic experience here and I hope I can revisit japan in the future.


Left: Nagoya university hospital during night
Right: Preparation before total hip arthroplasty

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