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.

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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