2015ExchangeProgram
Siriraj hospital, Mahidol university, Thailand

Keiko Furuoka
2015 年 5 月 5 日

1. Introduction
I studied at Siriraj hospital attached to Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand from6th April to 30th April. Within 4 weeks, I spent first 2 weeks in Infectious Diseasedepartment, and other 2 weeks in Trauma Surgery department.
2. About Siriraj hospital
Siriraj hospital is one of the most prestigious hospitals in Thailand. King
Chulalongkorn established it in 1888. This hospital has more than 2000 beds and morethan 100 operation rooms. It is said that the site area of this hospital is the widest in theEastern Asia. Siriraj hospital is well-known because the King attends here. During I
studied at Siriraj hospital the King was ill in this hospital, so SAIT team of the Thai
army stays and guards for 24 hours. The hospital has each wards of Internal medicinedepartment or Surgery department, dormitories where medical students and staffs live,restaurants, a library, convenience stores, supermarkets, a bank and even a sports gym.
It is like a small city. I stayed in the gest room called SIMR building. This building wasbuilt 4 years ago, so it was new and clean. I could live comfortably.

3. Infectious Disease department
In Infectious Disease department I went rounding every day and learned how to
examine patients and how to use antibiotics. All presentations in the rounding isperformed in English. Doctors explained me so kindly. I could learned rare infectious
diseases we seldom see in Japanese hospital and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. I
attended the conference, too. The Microbiology Round was the most interesting. In
that rounding I heard the history of the patients, observed pathogenic cultured fromblood or sputum and discussed which antibiotics we should use. That was a goodlearning experience for me. Because Thai medical students learn medicine by using
textbooks written in English, they can perform the presentation in English easily. I
was surprised that the level of Thai student was so high. In addition they were very
diligent.

4. Trauma Surgery
In Trauma Surgery department I mainly observed operations and the treatment ofoutpatients. I watched so many patients injured by motorcycle accident or animal bite.
In Thailand there are various animal bite, for example dog bite, cat bite, snake bite, andinsect bite. If a patient bitten by a snake comes, we have to examine what kind of poison
that snake has. If a patient bitten by a dog, we have to inject the vaccine against rabies
to that patient. Everything was new to me. The most impressive activity was the night
shift. I could watch many cases. I was surprised that 5th grade student injectedanesthesia to the patient and sutured a wound.

5. Daily life
Basically I had lunch in Siriraj hospital or in the market next to the hospital, and dinnerout of the hospital. The students in Siriraj hospital often took us for dinner. Thai foodwas so delicious and that price was cheap. My favorite Thai food were “phad thai” (ricenoodle) and “Som Tam” (Chili-Papaya Salad). Because mangos were in season in April,
we could eat a lot of delicious mangos.

Doctors and students in Thailand were so kind to us Japanese exchange student. Thai
students took us for sightseeing in Bangkok. I went to Wat Pho, Wat Arun and royalpalace with them. And I went to Ayutthaya on weekend. The ruins in Ayutthaya wereworth visiting. They were so beautiful. I could come in touch with Thai culture during
this staying, and the culture was so fascinating. I enjoyed staying in Thailand a lot.

6. Conclusion
Although I stayed in Thailand for very short time, I was able to spend wonderfultime. I learned many things and I could know the medical education in Thailand andthe difference of the medical system between Thailand and Japan. I’m sure that allthese things will be really good and useful experience for me as I become a doctor.