Clinical Exchange in Japan

First and foremost, I would like to thank the Nagoya University School of Medicine's faculty and staff for facilitating this medical exchange program at the Nagoya University Hospital. I greatly enjoyed my experience in Japan and took away many valuable insights that will further enrich my future career.

On the Cardiology service, I was paired with Dr. Morimoto, who was a great mentor to work with for the two weeks on the service. He ensured that I would have a positive experience on the service, through facilitating broad exposure to all of the clinical activities of the department. The department was divided into advanced heart failure, ischemic heart disease, electrophysiology, and pulmonary hypertension. Each day, I rotated through the different teams and saw various procedures in the cath lab. The faculty and residents on the service were all very welcoming and were great teachers. On, Tuesdays, the service would have professor rounds in the afternoon, where the entire team rounded on all of patients the on service and discussed the cases with the professor. This was a great learning opportunity for students to learn from the faculty by discussing the clinical care of patients on the floor with many different types of cardiac diseases. Throughout the rotation, I had many opportunities to have many informative and insightful conversations about the medical system in Japan, not only from the clinical perspective but also from a medical education and career perspective. As a Japanese person who will work in the U.S. as a physician, this was very valuable experience and provided insight into my future career. I am very thankful to Dr. Morimoto and the various faculty members in the Department of Cardiology for the great experience and being so welcoming.

On the Emergency Medicine & Critical Care service, I had the opportunity to work closely with the Department Chairman, Dr. Matsuda. He was an excellent teacher and provided students with many different in-depth lectures on topics such as the role of hemofiltration in ICU patients or the role of catecholamines in ICU patients. He was very engaging and I could tell that he took great pride in his research and education. I learned a great deal about critical care all the way from the basics to the advanced innovative strategies being employed at Nagoya University. Dr. Matsuda's discussion regarding hemofiltration and removal of inflammatory cytokines in ICU patients was very interesting, and I hope that his research will continue to improve the field of critical care. On this service, the daily routine was to attend ICU rounds in the morning and discuss the patients in the ICU. After that, students could go to the emergency department to see patients or stay in the ICU. Throughout the day, there were various lectures given by the chairman and other faculty members. We also had an opportunity to go up to the heli-pad and see the inside of a medical helicopter, which was a cool experience. I am very thankful to Dr. Matsuda and the Department of Emergency Medicine & Critical Care for the great experience on the service.

Overall, I had a great time in Nagoya and at the Nagoya University School of Medicine. Thank you again for this opportunity!