Ai Tada
For my shadowing assignment, I visited the Pacific free clinic. First, I want to say THANK YOU for all the staff at Pacific free clinic. I could learn a lot of things just in 5 hours because of their helpful minds. Separate in the big part I learn 3 things. I wrote about them below.
The first thing that I learned was every one is hard worker. Before I come to the USA, I really feel jealous about native English speaker, because they don’t need to learn second language. English is already world standard language. However most of the doctors and student doctors could speak several languages. That is because there is a large immigrant population near the Pacific Free Clinic. They need Spanish and sometimes Chinese to do good history taking.
The second thing that I learned was the feather of the patients. Most of them don’t have any insurance. In the USA, insurance is quite expensive, so it is very hard to afford it. Also cost of treatment at hospital in the USA is expensive.
The third thing that I leaned was their warm hart. The Pacific Free Clinic is totally free. Doctors and student doctors are all volunteers. I am very impressed their way to take care of patients. They politely ask questions and after the history taking they hold patient’s hand and say kindly words to comfort their patients.
In this free clinic I feel hard work is very important. We have to do our best all the time and learn a lot of things to be a good doctor.
Ayaka Fukada
I really appreciate that I was accepted to have shadowing at Pacific Free clinic. Through this fantastic experience I learned a lot of things that I will not be able to learn in Japan. I would like to share my experience through the following aspects.
First of all, I was surprised that both doctors and medical students are so passionate to learn and teach. The clinic is run by medical students and MD volunteers. When patients come in, students will do history taking without doctors. In Japan students are not allowed to see patients alone so I was surprised and wondered if students can do their work alone. However, the student doctor who I shadowed was awesome. She did history taking perfectly and also listened to her patients very carefully and did her best understand patients’ feelings. After that, the student did a case presentation to the attendant doctor. It was so fluent and organized well. I could clearly tell that she had been practiced a lot before. This was true with other students too. What I was surprised was not only students’ ability but also doctors’ passion to teach students. After the case presentation doctors feedback to the students and gave many advices to them. Moreover, relationship between doctors and students were equal. They discussed what will be the best for patients. They even asked me, who is stranger and do not have much knowledge for my opinion, and taught me medical technics and knowledge. I was so grateful for their kindness to make me a member of medical team. At the same time I was inspired by both students’ and doctors’ enthusiasm to learn and teach to make medical care better.
Secondly, I was so impressed with doctor patient encounter. Both student doctors and attendant doctors were listening to their patients with their heart. Even their words won’t convey directly (the patients nationality are diverse), they will never give up to understand what the patients are saying and thinking. Also, they always try to find the best way to treat patients by asking so many questions, empathizing with them and giving enough information so that patients can understand and relieved. Since in Japan doctors are too busy and many do not have time to do these things, these give me an opportunity to think about the importance of creating patient doctor communicating skills.
Through the shadowing I had a great chance to feel the high motivation and warm heart of doctors and medical students to think of the patients. This certainly gave me energy and braveness to continue working hard to be a good doctor.
Fumiko Ito
I went to Pacific Free Clinic for shadowing. I am going to write about free clinic and explain how I feel about my experience. When I heard free clinic for the first time, I consider it is run for the people who don’t have much money because the medical care fee and insurance is very high in the U.S. After I joined the shadowing, I found that free clinic is run not for only patients but also for medical students.
First I will write what I experienced. There are many staffs at the free clinic. I could find a manager, interpreters (Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese), student doctors, residents and attending doctors. In the morning, we had a conference out of the building with bagels. I was very surprised because in Japan we can’t imagine the conference like that. We introduced ourselves to each other. There were many people who met each other for the first time. The manager explain some important policies. After the conference, my shadowing started. I followed a student. She just graduated medical school this June. I could watch medical interview she did. It was very interesting. I hadn’t join any shadowing therefore it was my first experience. In the medical interview, there were many things I have learned at the school, for example, OPQRST, PAM HITS FOSS and physical examination of cranium nerves. I could understood only a few points but that was impressive for me.
Next, I am going to write what I consider. I think free clinic has an important meaning for students. It provides students a place to study. When I follow the student, I feel it strongly because students’ skills can improve through the medical interview. In the Pacific Free Clinic, a volunteer student doctor meet a patient at first and have a medical interview. Next, the student meets a resident or an attending doctor and make a presentation. Next, attending doctor sees the patients. I consider it is very good for student. Using the skills and knowledge in practice is helpful. I have another point that I noticed. Many of patients are minorities. Minorities often are neglected in the U.S., but the free clinics help serve them.
