Summer Internships: Kameda Medical Center
By Andrew Patzke
It is hard to believe that my time in Japan is already almost half over. To give you some quick background, I am interning at the Kameda Medical Center in Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Kameda’s medical campus sits at the foot of the Mineoka mountain range and overlooks the Pacific Ocean. The campus includes an outpatient clinic that serves over 3,000 patients daily, a general hospital with nearly 1,000 beds, a 60-bed rehabilitation hospital, and nursing college. Kameda’s reputation as a cutting-edge hospital is epitomized by its commitment to the patient experience, evidenced by the welcoming nature of its staff, providers, and facilities.
It is hard to believe that my time in Japan is already almost half over. To give you some quick background, I am interning at the Kameda Medical Center in Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Kameda’s medical campus sits at the foot of the Mineoka mountain range and overlooks the Pacific Ocean. The campus includes an outpatient clinic that serves over 3,000 patients daily, a general hospital with nearly 1,000 beds, a 60-bed rehabilitation hospital, and nursing college. Kameda’s reputation as a cutting-edge hospital is epitomized by its commitment to the patient experience, evidenced by the welcoming nature of its staff, providers, and facilities.
For the past several years John Wocher, the Executive Vice
President of Administration and Director of International Patient Relations at
Kameda, has offered an Iowa student the opportunity to come to Kameda and
observe how the hospital operates and partake in a project of choosing. My
primary project during my time at Kameda is to help prepare Kameda for reaccreditation
with Joint Commission International. In addition, I am working on several other
assignments that include a rout-causes analysis project, lecturing on
internationalism at the nursing college, and interviewing clinicians and
administrators of various departments at Kameda and other facilities in the
region.
Certainly my daily activities at Kameda keep me busy, but
being in Japan has afforded me some amazing opportunities outside of the
office. So far, I have had the opportunity to hike Buddhist ruins, golf amongst
the Bōsō Mountain Range, attend a local festival, spend a weekend in Tokyo, meet
the mayor of Kamogawa, sample as much local food as possible, and meet many
very interesting and very kind people. I also have plans to travel to Hiroshima,
Kyoto, Osaka, attend a national sumo competition, watch a Tokyo Giants game,
and spend 2 nights in Beijing. All together, the opportunity to learn about
healthcare administration and leadership from John Wocher and other Kameda
administrators, as well as experience Japan for all it has to offer is a truly
life changing experience.
If you would like to read more about my experience at Kameda
and my takes on the Japanese health system as it compares to the US, please
visit my blog at http://patzkea.wordpress.com/
Arigato gozaimasu!
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