Clinical Exchange in Japan

During my last semester of medicine studies, I had the fantastic opportunity to visit Nagoya University Hospital as an exchange. I chose to do my placements at Thoracis surgery (pulmonary) and Plastic and Reconstructive surgery because of my surgical interest and since the medical program at Lund University does not offer rotation at these clinics. In other words, this was my first encounter with these specialties which made the experience additionally educative and interesting. I was happily surprised when I could choose almost any specialty for my clerkship when going on this exchange.

My first two weeks I visited the Thoracic surgery department, specifically the department of pulmonary surgery. I was warmly welcomed during their morning meeting and was assigned a supervisor that helped me during my whole placement. This was invaluable since it can be quite daunting to visit a foreign hospital where you easily get lost. I was always welcome to join the OR, which was mainly where I chose to be during my placement, but also had the opportunity to tag along on the morning rounds to get some variation. When it was possible to wash in the doctors were very keen on me doing so which I really appreciated. There was always someone who explained the context and could answer questions which truly helped with the educational aspect.

My second placement was Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Again, I was warmly welcomed and within an hour washed in on the first surgery. During this placement all the doctors were very keen on teaching me the different surgical techniques and I was washed in on very many surgeries to the point where I eventually was allowed to assist properly. Since many reconstructive surgeries begin later during the day I was able to join the outpatient clinic with day-time surgery and reception where all doctors helped with translating into English.

Sometimes it was a challenge with the language barrier since the population in Japan generally has limited oral English skills compared to Europeans. Amongst the doctors, on the other hand, there were many who were quite fluent and with the help of google translate for certain words one could communicate well. Looking back, this did not impact my learning in a negative way. All employees at the hospital had a very positive attitude to international students and tried their best to help which made the biggest difference.

During both placements I felt very included in the teams and everyone seemed to try to make me feel as comfortable as possible. I was rarely left alone even though all the doctors, of course, had to do their work in parallel. Often there were national students who helped with finding the best lunch-places and also held us international students company during the breaks. Additionallt, there were also great opportunities to experience the country culturally post-clinic with everyone being very eager to give the best advice on where to visit and what to eat.

I would like to thank everyone at the Office of International Affairs for all the help with the application and Nagoya University for making this exchange possible. Furthermore, I would like to thank all the doctors for making me feel very welcome and introducing me to their specialties. I would recommend everyone to apply for this exchange program and will bring the memories and new experiences with me in my future working life.