Thomas Jefferson University Study Report

It was only one week, but this experience at Thomas Jefferson University (TJU) became one of my best experiences in my life. I am grateful that you have given me this opportunity. It was amazing.

Thanks to the great effort and support of TJU, this program was scheduled perfectly. We observed Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Neurology Outpatient Department (Headache Center), Neurology ICU, and Pediatrics Outpatient Department. We also had chance to have classes with Dr. Joseph Majdan and join JeffHOPE which is a volunteer medical care group for patients who don’t have medical insurance. It was sometimes tough, but thanks to this schedule we could see and learn many things.

In Internal Medicine, we joined the team rounds for inpatients. The team consisted of about ten people. There were attending physicians, residents, pharmacists, medical students, and pharmacy students. They discussed carefully about each patient in front of their rooms. It was about twenty to thirty minutes for each patient. The most impressive thing for me was the behavior of medical students. They understood the situation of patients deeply as doctors and they made plans by themselves. They also asked a lot of questions to learn more. They were completely included in the team. I thought this education system made it easy for them to learn about diseases and have them feel responsibilities to patients.

At the class of Dr. Majdan, he taught many things to us in the same way as he did to medical students of TJU. The most interesting lecture was about how to do medical interviews. We did it with a Simulated Patient. We tried medical interviews in English under his supervision, and it became a good experience.

Through this program, I could see the differences of medical systems between Japan and the US. They have both pros and cons, and I thought It’s good for me to know both to broaden my horizons. We don’t have so much opportunity to study abroad, so it was a really precious time. Actually, there are five students who wanted to join but couldn’t be in this program. I’d like to tell them what I saw as much as I can. Unwillingly, I cannot say I could understand everything they talked during my stay, because of my poor English and knowledge. Then now, I got more motivation to learn both Medicine and English.
I would like to thank again to all doctors, staffs and students both of Osaka City University and Thomas Jefferson University who took care of us during this program.