Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok,Thailand
Date: 1st-26th April, 2013
Kobe University School of Medicine
6th grade
Masuko Naohisa

1. Introduction
I applied for this exchange program for the following reasons.
First, I wanted to learn medicine from another point of view. I thought if I learned
medicine in Thailand, I could learn the good point and bad point of medicine in Japan.
Second, I was originally interested in Thai culture. But a month is too short for me toknow about Thai culture deeply.
I had been in Thailand for about a month, from 1st to 26th April with my classmates.
We learned at Ramathibodi Hospital in Mahidol University for 4 weeks. I had studied
Infectious Disease department for first 2 weeks and Trauma Surgery department foranother 2 weeks. I had a great medical and daily experience in Thailand, so I’d like you
to show the content of my exchange program.

2. Object# Learn diseases which are common in Thailand# Improve my English# See the difference of medical service and education between Japan and Thailand# Enjoy my life in Thailand# Broaden my horizons

3. Ramathibodi HospitalRamathibodi Hospital is located in the center of Bangkok. The nearest station is Phaya
Thai Station, BTS Line. There is a huge palace and the Victory Monument near thehospital. It has about 1000 beds. Many patients comes from not only Bangkok but alsorural area.
I was staying in the dormitory next to the hospital during my practice in Bangkok. It
had four beds, four closets, two desks and an air conditioner. We couldn’t live without anair–conditioned room because the temperature was more than 35 ℃ in April inBangkok.

4. Infectious Disease department
In this department, we usually had team round with a professor and fellows andsometimes they gave us small lectures. And on Friday, we went to OPD building andsaw the HIV patients with the professor.
Doctors in Infectious Disease department saw many patient with fever or unknown
origin infection which is difficult to cure. We went to many wards or ICUs of otherdepartment.
Many patients in the hospital had been infected by HIV and had pneumonia. It was agood opportunity for us to learn HIV and treatment for HIV.
In the department, we took charge of the patient infected by HIV and had PCP. We
checked her SpO2 and RR every morning and evening. At the first several days, sheseemed to have difficulty in breathing. But the last 3 days, she got better and breath
almost normally. Finally Her SpO2 is almost 95%(room air).
We learned that correct medication helped HIV patients to live normally. And themedication is getting cheaper than before, also poor people can take medication.

Finally the professor gave us a good advice. “If you want to be a good doctor, you have towork hard.”5. Trauma Surgery department
In this department, we usually had two team rounds with fellows, residents andstudents. I did simple treatment such as disinfection, removing the stitches and so on.
There were many patients injured with motorcycle and car accidents. The morning
round started at 7:00 and the evening one started at 14:00 or 15:00. Sometimes I had
lectures or classes with students. The lectures were about not only trauma surgery but
also general surgery. They were interesting to me.
In the operating room, I saw a patient with right arm contusion. Doctors debrided
quickly. I had never seen such a large contusion before. And I saw doctors doing
gastroscopy and colonoscopy. The teacher taught residents the way of scopy kindly.
The teachers, fellows, students were really kind. They taught me many things, andanswered my questions precisely.

6. Activities
On weekends, we traveled to not only various area in Thailand but also Angkor in
Cambodia. We enjoyed swimming in Emerald Pool and island hopping in Krabi. Thaifriend’s family took us to Ayutthaya and I rode on an elephant there. It was very hot in
Cambodia, but Angkor was very beautiful.

7. Conclusion
Through this exchange program, I had great and wonderful experience. I could see
infectious disease I had never seen before in Japan, learn a lot of medical treatment andthe difference between Japan and Thai.
I made many friends. They are not only Thai people but also Austrian and Japanese.
They were all really kind.
I great appreciate to everybody who gave me opportunities to have good experiences andmemories.