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American Hospital of Paris (11)
Epilogue
I've
been practicing medicine in Osaka since I came back from Paris in 1997.
I continued to study French once a week at Aliance Francaised'Osaka.
Therefore, my French has become much better than that of the Paris
era. I'm asked to see French speaking patients once in several
months. I
sometimes ask myself if my experience in Paris contributes just to
see a few French patients. The answer is no. I'm pretty sure that the
experience
in Paris is contributing to the care of my patients here in Osaka.
I can say so from my 7-year practice experience here.
I mostly follow chronic asymptomatic patients such as hypertensives
and diabetics. What is important here is how to understand early on,
how they are feeling and what
they need from my medical care. (Explanatory model of the patient )
In other words, it is more important to catch onto their "illness" when
they say "I
feel vaguely sick this morning," and deal with it than treating "disease" like
hypertension. The more you practice in the different culture, the
sharper the sense to patient's expectation becomes.
Japanese patients in Paris had more or less some kind of psycho-somatic problems.
One who can understand these problems correctly is the physician
sharing the same culture. If you catch the problem properly, the patient opens
up right away just like finding an oasis in a desert. Physicians work
harder if they are relied upon by the patient. It is the second nature of a good
physician. This way I did my best for the patients in Paris, and it
really worked. Repeating the above practice everyday in Paris, my awareness of
the patient's explanatory model became sharper. That is why the practice
experience in Paris contributes much to my practice in Osaka which, on the surface,
little to do with French culture.
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E-mail:kidot@momo.so-net.ne.jp