Thomas Jefferson University Study Report

First of all, I’m really grateful for all people who supported us. We owed them to have a lot of experiences and enjoy whole this program. Thank you so much.

I participated to Thomas Jefferson University Program this summer (8/15-8/25).

In this program, I went to emergency, pulmonary and internal medicine department. There wasn’t big difference between Japan and America about treatment and medical interview. But at this attending, I felt that the psychological distance between patients and doctors were much closer than Japanese. For example, at doctors’ round, internal medicine doctor started to talk to patients from saying “hello my friend”. I was really surprised, because if we said the same thing in Japan, we would be regarded as impolite. But as I mentioned, it looked there was a strong relationship between them. Compared to them, Japanese doctors are maybe little too strict. I think this can be one way to make stronger relationship with patients.

And in this program, we also had some lectures. All lectures were so interesting and there was a lot to learn, but the most interesting lecture was ‘volunteerism’ by Dr. Wayne. This lecture was about Jeff Hope, and Jeff Hope is what I was most impressed by through this program. Jeff Hope is a group which provides free and good quality care to poor people like homeless and people who don’t have health insurance in Philadelphia. In this lecture, Dr. Wayne said “Treating patients is not special thing, because patients have to pay for it. Volunteerism is the thing special for only human beings.” I was really impressed and had opportunity to think what could I do and dedicate to others and society as one doctor in the future. To be honest, I haven’t found the answer for this, so I keep thinking it.

I had an opportunity to participate in Jeff Hope. This was really good experience for me and I was happy to be able to help people who were suffering. What I was surprised the most was that Jeff Hope was handled by mainly students there. They accepted a lot of poor people and did medical interview, some exams, consult doctor there and make medical referral letters. Doing such things needs a lot of efforts, time and energy. But they were really willing to do that. They all seemed to have “volunteerism mindset” ,”brave to do those things” and ”established knowledge and skills”. I think they are the students which Osaka City University students want and have to be. Fortunately, I could see ideal medical student, so I will manage to get closer to them.
In addition, they can make their skills better though Jeff Hope. So there are only good points for both patients and students.

These are only some of what I want to write here. I learned and experienced too many things to write down here. I’m sure this experience through Thomas Jefferson Program is invaluable for my life. I strongly recommend this program to juniors. You will be able to get a lot of things regardless of your English abilities. I want juniors not to hesitate to apply and challenge to this program if you have any interest in it.

Finally, I would like to thank again to all doctors, students and staffs of both Thomas Jefferson University and Osaka City University who supported us during whole this program.

Thank you for reading.