Exchange Program
Siriraj hospital, Mahidol University, Thailand
Ushio Miyata
1. Introduction
I did my clinical clerkship at Siriraj hospitalin Bangkok, Thailand from 6th April to 30th April
2015. Within 4 weeks, I spent first 2 weeks in
Neurology department, and the other 2 weeks in
Vascular surgery. While I studied, Thai students
except 5th year students are on spring vacation
and I was an only student and an only foreigner ineach department. But I didn’t feel lonely because alot of doctors talked to me.
The program was mainly composed of ward
round and observing outpatients. Most medical
technical terms were in English, but doctors
talked to each other in Thai. But they translated
contents into English, so I could understand them.
2. Neurology department
Inneurology

department,

there

were

many

cases

which

relatedtodiseases I had neverseen or had obvious
symptoms.

Itwasvery meaningful that
I saw some physicalfindings that I had
seen only on textbooks. At OPD, mainly residents saw numerous patients by themselves,and if needed, they consulted with a professor. They held many kinds of outpatient
clinics such as Myasthenia Gravis clinic and so on day by day. So they were rich in cases.
In a lecture for residents, a teacher quoted many studies and case reports written by
Japanese. On Friday, residents held study meeting for specialist examination and theypresented each other. The PowerPoint was written in English so I could comprehend tosome extent.

3. Vascular surgery
In Vascular surgery, they performed ultrasound examination. I could actually
perform ultrasound to see varicose veins, DVT, AVF and so on. A professor taught mesutures, palpation kindly. It was impressive that patients put hands together to show
doctors thanks when they started to see them and finish seeing them.
I had to speak in English in
the hospital, so I managed to hearand express what I wanted to say in
English and got courage to talk in
English. This is the most importantachievement

forme,

whohadstudied only “English for entranceexam”.

Theytalkedaboutsopractical and professional issues, that it is difficult for me to understand them all. While
I communicated with doctors, I realized the importance of medical English and Ithought that we study it harder. Of course, I made great progress in English.
4. Daily life
Thedoctors

gave me breakfast
andlunchonweekdays. Most ofthem

wereThaifoods.

Spicy

Thaifoods

arefamoussuch as tom yum
goong, but there aresome foods that are
not spicy. All of themwere good and I could eat them all. I went outside to eat dinner with Thai and Japanesestudents. I was impressed by Chinese town. Descendants of many Thai students arealso Chinese. Because people in the town kept Chinese tradition, Chinesecharacteristics of signs were written from right to left. They made me feel nostalgic andnovel. The town was very large and foods in the town were also unique and good.
There were many street dogs even in the hospital. And I was so scary. It was said
that there were many cases of dog bite in the trauma surgery department.

I spent all holidays on sightseeing.
One day, I met Thai students at anotheruniversity at local station and webecame friends. Then I took them to astreet stall for a dinner. On another day,they took me to the Water festival called
Songkran. Songkran is originally aceremony in which people pour water
into hands of Buddha and elder people to show respect and then elder people pray for
their richness, health, happiness and good luck. I also participated in the original one
held in Neurology department. I went to a southern resort area and eight museums
including three museums in the hospital to understand Thai nature, culture and history
further. After finishing duty, we visited the Thai classic music club to hear and try it.
5. Conclusion
A teacher quoted many studies and casereports written by Japanese in the lecture forresidents. I realized that I could contribute to
the world by reports from Japan if I don’t work
abroad as a researcher or a doctor. Through thisprogram, I would more like to work with doctors
and researchers all over the world. And in Japan,
I want to report results of my work to the world.
Meanwhile, I think we must pay attention toresult from the world because I know the goodquality and effort of Thai doctors.
When I was a foreigner, there was moredifficulty than I expected and I felt anxious. For
instance, dressing rooms for surgery had only
Thai signs. So I couldn’t tell which the dressing
room for men was. I realized that English signs
were important for foreigners. Now I think there
had better be more English signs in Japan as atangible side of things.
If I had some trouble, Thai people helped me kindly. So now I want to help foreign
people who have some trouble in Japan. We must internationalize both a tangible side
and an abstract side that means our mind.