Thomas Jefferson Hospital Report 2012

Thank you very much for offering us such a great practice program. My stay in Thomas Jefferson Hospital was a really good experience and also enriched my viewpoint, my life as a doctor. I get motivated so much not only to study but also to have a definite plan to become a doctor. I mainly got impressed the system and facilities of the hospital.

About roundpatient, I think the biggest difference from Japan is the medical team. When we are in the hospital, we follow some doctors depends on occasion, but not as the team. I think it is difficult to get communication with doctors without any hesitation for students. However, if we have the team, it will promote the conversation and help students to develop their medical skills. Hopefully if we have the patients’ chart in advance, the understanding may be improved.

I saw two outpatient, family medicine and pediatrics. Doctors have some rooms to see and let the patients wait inside them. They take more than 30minutes for a patient and at most see 15 patients in a day. Also on the outpatient floor, they have the staff room. I think it is good because when resident or student discuss about the treatment with their attend, other doctors can join that easily. In Japan, we usually discuss in outpatient room, so that seldom occurs.

In the afternoon on from 2nd day to 5th day, we have a lecture and practice of procedure from Dr.Majden at skill simulation center. His lecture is very good for our level. In addition to that, he always took care of us and did not use difficult English. The surprising things is that the center has the fake apartment room, operation room, and recording system. Procedure is not only to do the process but also to treat the patients. So by recording our procedure and reviewing that, we can improve the real skill to see the patients.

On 4th day, I took part in the Jeff Hope. Through this program, I was so surprised that students were actually able to do outpatient, follow up patients, and give them medications. Even if some residents check students’ treatment, we cannot do things like that in Japan because of the license problem. I think having our own real patient is very good to learn not only the disease but also how to get along with the patient as a doctor and medical team.