Clinical Exchange in Japan

This report served as the conclusion of my 4-week overseas clerkships program at Nagoya University, I could not say more thank you to all the kindest people I met. To whom they are interested in joining the program next year, here are some sharing from my personal experience.

About one year ago, I planned to go to other countries for overseas clinical clerkships during my summer holidays, so I started searching for information online. Unfortunately, it was hard time to find a place during the COVID-19 pandemic. I was very lucky to be accepted by Nagoya University and eventually to start the elective program in September 2022. In the end, I am so glad that I made the best decision in my life to come to Japan.

The People I Met

Before I arrived in Japan, the international office of Nagoya University provided enormous assistance to me. I would like to send my sincere appreciation to Ms. Mika Kasai-Prince, she was the staff responsible for handling my application. She efficiently replied to all my email inquiries, guided me with the visa application, arranged the accommodation, and introduced some local students to me. Without her kind assistance, I would not be able to attend this program at all.

I would also want to express my gratitude to Moto. He was a fifth-grade medical student at Nagoya University. During my stay in Nagoya, Moto invited me to have lunch for few times and I, therefore, had a valuable chance to understand more about student life in Japan. As I know he is also applying for an overseas exchange program, I wish him all the best with the application!

Clinical Activity

During the month, I attended two departments, Thoracic Surgery, and Hand Surgery. The reasons for my choices were very simple, I barely speak Japanese and it seemed that surgical departments were less demanding for good Japanese. I study medicine course by English at my university, therefore I always worry about the language barrier problem in Japan before I arrived. While the fact is that most Japanese doctors speak English very well! They were happy to explain all the case details and surgical procedures to me.

At Nagoya University, there was a Surgery Training Room equipped with different advanced training tools, including laparoscopy simulators, microsurgery simulators, and even Da Vinci Robot simulator! I had a chance to do suturing with 11-0 threads under the microscope, the hands-on experience was absolutely impressive!

Thoracic Surgery

For the first two weeks of rotation, I joined the Thoracic Surgery department. From the first second I entered this department, I could already feel the kindness and the warm welcoming of Prof. Yoshikawa and all the doctors in the department. Everyone would be happy to explain the cases and answer my questions. Special thanks to Dr. Kato for taking care of me, every time he would arrange the OR schedule for me so that I could join the surgeries as many as possible.

In these two weeks, I joined case conferences, journal clubs, ward rounding, and many different surgeries. The most surprising part of thoracic surgery was the speedy recovery of patients. As most of the operations were performed by laparoscopy or minimally invasive techniques, many patients could be dismissed within a week. Moreover, Robotic Assisted Thoracic Surgery (RATS) was very common at Nagoya University, as a result, I did see many Da Vinci robotic surgeries here.

Hand Surgery

During the next two weeks of Hand Surgery, I was amazed by hand surgeons' delicate skills and creativity. In this department, I saw and learned so many uncommon diseases, such as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), CHILD syndrome, Sprengel deformity, etc. Prof. Hirata and Dr. Kurimoto were incredibly nice and friendly, they would explain all the case details to me when I was following them during the outpatient clinics. Moreover, the surgery part was extremely fascinating too. I remembered that I saw they took out a part of a rib and shaped it into a finger joint, this is the most shocking surgery I have ever seen!

Conclusion

I sincerely express my greatest gratitude to all the doctors I met. Thank you for letting me join the surgeries, thank you for teaching me all the new knowledge, and thank you for taking care of me during this period. Looking forwards to seeing you all soon! Cheers!