Kurokawa Award Winner (Medical Student Category)
2022年9月26日
Kurokawa Award (Medical Student Category) Recipient’s Remarks
Junna Iwata, Keio University, School of Medicine
I am honored to receive the Kurokawa Award at the ACP Japan Chapter Annual Meeting 2022.
I presented “Japanese medical student perceptions of working abroad: a national, online survey”. The results of a survey conducted by the ACP Japan Chapter Student Committee during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 were so interesting that I wanted to share them with the audience.
There is arising importance of internationalization in medical education in Japan. However, there are very limited data in Japan regarding medical student perceptions of international careers. This study aims to assess the perceptions toward working abroad among medical students in Japan and characterize the support they require. A total of 548 medical students from 59 medical schools in Japan participated in this study. Nearly 70% of participants were interested in working abroad while only 40% seriously considered it. A lot of students showed interest in clinical training abroad programs in the short term or while they are in medical school. Also, the need for language support and providing career options by role models were identified.
We hope that the results of this study will be useful for the further development of medical education in Japan. We are currently working on our next step, which is to publish our findings in an academic paper.
It was the first time for me to experience conducting research from scratch and presenting the results by myself, and I felt nervous before my presentation. However, I was encouraged by the many comments and questions I received during my presentation. I was so glad to conduct research from the viewpoint of medical students at the end of my medical school life.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Harumi Yano, the advisor of the ACP Japan Chapter Student Committee, Dr. Nishizono and Dr. Hashimoto of Oita University, Mr. Cyrus of WashU, the Student Committee members who have worked together, and everyone involved in the ACP Japan Chapter Annual Meeting 2022.