Clinical Exchange in Japan

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Nagoya University School of Medicine International Exchange

Mr. Ifeanyichukwu Anidi from U.S.A.

Departments: Respiratory Medicine, Infection Control
Period: February 3rd – February 28th 2014

When I decided to pursue a month-long rotation at Nagoya University Hospital, not only would it be my first travel to continental Asia, but it would also be my first international clinical elective. During my initial correspondence with the international exchange office, I came to realize the impressively welcoming nature of Japanese culture. Yuko Nishishita and Dr. Toru Kondo worked with me in a short time period to compile all my necessary documents, craft a clerkship schedule and orient me to my residence for the month and the Nagoya Tsurumai campus. Additionally, two Nagoya University medical students, Yutaro Fuse and Shohei Iyoshi, made sure to reach out to me prior to my arrival and provide me with essential information about my upcoming month in Japan (how to get around Nagoya, what to wear in the hospital, how to address residents and professors).

The evening I arrived in Japan, I was greeted by Yutaro and Shohei at Nagoya Airport and graciously guided to central Nagoya to meet Dr. Kondo who also took time out of his Sunday evening to make sure that I successfully found my way to a comfortable bed for the night (a most helpful gesture that can’t be understated given my extremely limited Japanese at that point). This remarkable hospitality extended throughout my month-long stay in Japan and manifested itself in innumerable different ways. While I must admit that not everything was smooth sailing during my first 48 hours in Nagoya (walking around the Yagoto Nisseki area completely lost trying to locate my dorm house, attempting to discover which building on Tsurumai campus housed the International Exchange Office), making my way around Nagoya became much easier afterwards.

As a medical student applying into internal medicine residency at the time, I looked forward to learning how pulmonary medicine was practiced in Japan. The Respiratory Medicine Division at Nagoya University did not fail to impress. Under the direction of Professor Yoshinori Hasegawa, I gained exposure to different facets of clinical practice, clinical research and basic science research on a daily basis. Some highlights of my experience include joining Dr. Imai and Dr. Kato in the bronchoscopy suite, learning how to perform bronchoscopy myself in the simulation center with Dr. Sato, seeing all the ward patients on Professor rounds, and the morning departmental journal club discussion of recent clinical or translational articles in respiratory medicine. I had a similarly fruitful experience during my two weeks with the Infection Control Team (ICT). When I first sat down with Professor Tetsuya Yagi, the head of ICT, he immediately inquired about my specific interests in the field and structured my time accordingly. I was able to bolster my knowledge of bacteriology by training directly with the microbiology lab where I learned everything from how to gram stain and identify coagulase-negative staphylococcus to differentiating the selective growth patterns of various mycobacterial species. Attending daily morning SICU rounds and MICU rounds twice a week not only exposed me to the critical care medicine in Japan but also provided me with insight into how ICT actively contributes to the care patients as a consult service. While the Japanese clinical practice of respiratory medicine was very similar to the American pulmonary/critical care subspecialty, infection control felt like a more bare bones approach to nosocomial and community-acquired infections with a foundation in laboratory-based diagnosis.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Nagoya University Hospital, there is no doubt that many of my most memorable moments in Japan were non-clinical. Starting from celebrating Setsubun the day after I arrived in Nagoya all the way to going out in downtown Sakae the night before I returned to the States, my time in Japan was one the best experiences I’ve had as a medical student. After being able to explore Nagoya, Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto and Osaka during a very short four-week time span, I feel lucky to have been granted the opportunity to participate in the Nagoya Clinical Exchange. I would highly recommend this program to any medical student and hope to maintain the relationships I built during my exchange throughout my life.

The Nagoya University Hospital Respiratory Medicine Department 2014.

Exploring Kiyomizu Temple with friends in Kyoto.

Enjoying miso katsu at Yabaton in Sakae, Nagoya.

The Nagoya University Hospital Infection Control Team 2014.

Takoyaki party in Tsurumai, Nagoya.

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