2015
EXCHANGE PROGRAM
At Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University in Thailand

Reina Utsugi

1 Introduction
From 6th April to 30th April, I did my clinicalclerkship at Siriraj hospital of Mahidol university inBangkok, Thailand. Siriraj hospital is the oldest
hospital in Thailand and the biggest in Southeastern
Asia. Siriraj hospital take on cases which couldn’t betreated at other hospitals, so Siriraj hospital deals
with a lot of rare cases.
I spent my first 2 weeks in infectious disease department, and other 2 weeks in trauma
surgery department.

2 infectious disease department
To my surprise, there are a lot of cases of Dengii(Deng fever ) and HIV and also
complications ,like hepatitis B and tuberculosis ,associated with HIV infection in Thailand.
With those cases, drug resistant bacillus makes it difficult to control. Through those cases,
doctors explained us the situation of cases and how to consider the treatment and so I had
chance to organize direction of treatment.
In ID department, we went round every day. In the ward, doctors checked vital and problemof the patients, examine patients and talkwith the problem again at once. it wassurprising for me that they use Thai when
they examine patients and use English
when they discuss.
I could also join Microbacterium
conference. In that conference, we gramstain bacilli derived from patients andidentify it. It was first time for me to consider what was the pathogenic, checking drug history
and clinical history and using microscope. It was really difficult, but that experience increased
my knowledge.

3 trauma surgery department
Trauma surgery department is mixed with what is called emergency department in japan
and orthopedic surgery. ( however, ‘emergency department’ in Thailand undertake internal
emergency cases such as MI.)In Siriraj hospital, Trauma surgery department has its own building and it has
consultation room, treatment room, inpatients’ ward, BURN unit, ICU and operation room.
There are a lot of cases of traffic accident and insect/animal bite (by dog, cat and snake etc.) InThailand, medical students are allowed to do procedures, so they sutured the wound. It wassurprising for me.

In my practice, I could have lectures with medical students, observe outpatientconsultation, go round, enter the operation room and suture the wound. I also had night shift
with medical students. At night, I had unique cases, such as blunt force injury and sting.

4 Daily Life in Thailand
Including me, Japanese students stayed atthebuilding ‘SiMR’ which has research institute inSiriraj hospital. That building was clean andgenerally doctors come from other hospitals or
professors stay there.
Thai people are really kind and Thai
students usually with us and took us out fordinner and sightseeing, so we could have a lot ofdelicious Thai food.
In the second week, I could join Songkran festival, traditional Thai New Year festival,with them. This festival used to celebrate New Year by pouring water on Buddhist tower,
Buddha statues and elders’ hands. I’m really glad to join such a wonderful festival.

5 Conclusion
All experiences in Thailand were new to me and became valuable memories. I could makefriends in Thailand and they are the best asset that I could gain in Thailand. They are good
English speakers, so I could receive a lot of stimulation from them.
Actually, by Thai strong spices and weather, I usually had stomachaches and fever, so I
wasn’t in good condition. Thai medical students and doctors worried about me and gave me
medicines. Thanks to them, I could finish my practice successfully.
In closing, I’m grateful to all the people who involved this program.