NYC training report
Yoka Hirano
At the beginning, I practiced medical interviews and physical examinations at Pace
University for 6 days. Tony, who was our teacher, listened to me looking in my eyes even when
I could not express what I wanted to say well. Thanks to him, I came to speak without being
afraid of mistake. At first, I was nervous about doing medical interviews in English. Tonytaught us words and phrases which were often used, so it became easy to practice medicalinterviews. During the practice, we took videos each other and they were helpful for selfevaluation. I began to practice with standardized patients on the fourth day. The patients gaveme feedbacks after every interview and they were really helpful. I appreciated many advices
they gave me, but I also felt it hard to correct so many mistakes. I kept practicing never tomake the same mistakes and the last patient told me that she thought I could improve myself
because I corrected all the mistakes she pointed out the day before. Before she said so, Ithought I was so bad at speaking English and I was unconfident. I was happy to realize that I
could make progress. The lessons at Pace University were really helpful and I want to keep
reviewing what I have learned.
I had opportunities to take Ms. Minami Yusui’s lessons at Pace University. She is a
Broadway actress. We played games using gestures and I realized that nonverbal
communications like gestures and facial expressions were important. She also taught us tochallenge and communicate with others. As a part of that, she told us to talk to a stranger
whom I met in town. I felt very scared and nervous, but I tried talking to a stranger who wasin a ferry during our sightseeing. He was kind and told me that he was studying abroad tostudy biology. Because of this small success, I thought I wanted to challenge anything even if
I felt scary.
I visited Phelps Hospital and I did clinical reasoning discussing with a teacher andresidents. It was first time for me to discuss about patients in English and I learned a lot ofmedical English. I also learned the training system of residents in NY and it was interesting.
After the training at Pace University, I shadowed Japanese doctors who were working inNY. I went to Dr. Iwahara’s office on the first day and the second day. He is agastroenterologist. I shadowed Dr. Asoma, who was an ophthalmologist on the third day. They
were very kind and told me medical differences between America and Japan. Ms. Michiko,
who was Dr. Iwahara’s wife, taught me the insurance system and American culture regarding
lifestyle. I also went to an endoscopy center and I was surprised because the examinations
were quite different from Japanese ones. For example, there was an anesthesiologist in eachroom and the patients were completely sedated. As my impression through 3 days, the doctorswere making efforts for the patients to feel comfortable and not to have pain. The doctors whocould speak both English and Japanese were trusted by the patients and they were very cool.
It was very helpful to have been able to see their medical practice.
On the last day of the training, I visited Mt. Sinai Hospital and met Dr. Morishita, who
was a researcher. After that, I visited Dr. Kita, who was a counsellor at the Permanent Missionof Japan to the United Nations. Second-year medical students guided us at Mt. Sinai Hospitaland they told us about medical education they were receiving. Dr. Morishita told us about his
research and Dr. Kita told us what he had done in the United Nations. After I listened to them
who were working internationally, I thought I would like to do my best in both English andwork.
Through the trip, I learned so many things not only English. Especially, it was good for me
to have been able to express myself without being afraid of mistakes. I will keep studying
English and I want to incorporate what I learned during the trip into my life.
I would like to thank Professor Andrew Schneider, the teachers in NYC, Dr. Kometani andBasic and Advanced Residency Training Center.