I am Wong Yat Sing, a final year medical student from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. I complete a 4-week-attachment in Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine including 2 weeks in cardiology and 2 weeks in nephrology.
During my cardiology rotation, I usually start the day in medical intensive care unit and see the critically ill patients under cardiology. After the round in the ICU, I may go to observe intervention cardiology procedures or occasionally join the ward round in the general ward. All doctors are very nice to me and tried to explain in English when I could not understand certain terms, particularly the medical terms. Overall speaking, my cardiology rotation had been fruitful and the schedule was not overwhelming.
As for my nephrology rotation, I usually join the ward round either in the ward or in the haemodialysis unit in the morning. In the afternoon I may join tutorial with the local students occasionally or observe procedure including renal biopsy. There was also renal biopsy meeting twice a week in the evening and students are welcome to join. Doctors from the nephrology department were all very nice and offered me lots of help during my attachment.
Apart from my time spending in the hospital, I also travelled around Japan during weekend and after the 1-month elective program. April is probably the best season to travel Japan because of the Sakura bloom season. One may worry about language barrier in Japan. In my opinion, knowing simple Japanese is really useful but not understanding any Japanese is not a big issue at all.
Last but not the least, I would like to thank Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine especially Department of Cardiology and Department of Nephrology for offering me such a fruitful elective program.
Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine