Clinical Exchange in Japan

Neurology

The first four weeks of my clinical clerkship I spent at the clinical department of neurology. It was very instructive, and so far I had mostly positive experiences.
Everything was organized very well and I appreciated that the schedule worked out so smooth.

Most of the doctors were talking English very well, but some have been not so good in it, so unfortunately there was a communication problem from time to time. But in general, I always had the feeling that they are interested, motivated and willing to teach us.

The lectures were very good and we learned a lot, but for students, I think, it could be more educational, when the topics would include more basics and not too much about the researches. Of course the researches have been very interesting but sometimes a little difficult for me to understand. I had to do some patient reports were I had the possibility to interact a little bit with the patients.

On the Tuesdays ward rounds I gained the biggest experience, because at this time I had the direct contact with the patient and could cooperate with the treating physician.
I should also mention the day at the Redcross Hospital, where we had the possibility to see another clinic in Japan and learned some new and interesting things.
Another day I enjoyed a lot was the day we spent at the EMG room. I was allowed to perform an ENG - examination on each other, what I really appreciated.

Special thanks to Dr. Araki, who has always been very supportive with translating in the ward rounds and helped us choosing a patient for the patient report. Working next to him was educational and interesting. He tried as much as possible to reply to the questions which were asked, and moreover, I’ve rather got the impression that he loves what he is doing.

In summary, the department of neurology made a good impression to me, not only because of the good organization, but the motivated doctors and nurses, who created an atmosphere pleasant to work.

Obstetrics & gynecology

The second department of my rotation was obstetrics and gynecology of Professor Kikkawa. Because my father is a gynecologist I always had a special interest in gynecology, these 4 weeks were probably the best weeks in the whole rotation.
I had the chance to assist in a lot of cesarian sections and I got to see a natural delivery which was my personal highlight.

I also had the chance to learn more about IVF procedures for one week which I have not seen before.
One week I spent at the gynecology/oncology department which was very impressive and where I had the chance to train laparoscopic skills on a simulator. I also was assisting in many operations what I enjoyed the most.

My last 2 weeks I spent at the obstetrics department where I had the possibility to perform ultrasound in the outpatient clinic by my own which was really awesome and I also was able to experience the daily work at the ward.

All the doctors from the gynecology department have been very friendly and supportive and tried to take as much time as possible to teach me and gave me a lot of time to train the natural delivery on a practicing dummy with all kind of problems that can occur.

Pediatrics

The third department of my rotation was pediatrics of Professor Kojima. I spent time in the neonatal intensive care unit for two weeks, the pediatric general team and the pediatric hematology unit for one week each. It was possible to get an impression of the diverse clinical presentation of pediatric patients as well as to learn a lot about the research that is being done in pediatric cancer patients.

I had the chance to see patients with a wide spectrum of various rare diseases I heard and learned about but never seen before, for example Ewing-sarcoma, Neuroblastoma and Morbus Hirschsprung.

The first two weeks I had to be at the hospital from 0820 till 1800 o` clock, which was a little bit hard.

In the week at the general / neurology pediatrics department have been way shorter because i had to do a lot of organizing things for my departure from Japan.
Every Thursday there was a session only for students for one hour and the Professors round only for students, which was quite impressing and I learned a lot.
The last week at the Tsurumai University Hospital I was joining the hematology / oncology pediatrics group where I learned a lot about leukemia because the doctors are specialists for that disease.

All in all pediatrics was a very nice and interesting department. The best weeks have been the one at the NICU, even they have been very long and exhausting but I gained the most knowledge and was able do perform echocardiography on the babies.
I also had the opportunity to meet Mickey and Minnie Mouse at the christmas party for the pediatrics patient. I felt so happy for the little kids to see them laugh and enjoy their lives even if they are really ill.