Creating the Future of the Region, Your Learning. I Participated in the Misato, Morotsuka, and Shiiba Community Medical Observation Tour

The Misato, Morotsuka, and Shiiba Community Medical Observation Tour was held from August 7th to 8th.

This tour was organized with the following objectives:
➀ To personally experience the atmosphere of mountainous and remote areas in Miyazaki Prefecture
➁ To observe the front lines of community medical and nursing care
➂ To interact and build connections with doctors working in the region.

It was hosted by the "Miyazaki Prefecture Remote Area Doctors," and the representative is Dr. Daiki Arakawa, who works at the Shiiba Village National Health Insurance Hospital.

Dr. Arakawa is a Jichi Medical University graduate and a seventh-year general practitioner.

The members include Dr. Kento Tetsumura (third year), also a Jichi Medical University graduate working at Shiiba Hospital; Dr. Shunpei Tokuchi (sixth year), a Jichi Medical University graduate working at the National Health Insurance Morotsuka Clinic; and Dr. Yuichiro Hashimoto (third year), who works at the Misato Town National Health Insurance Saigo Hospital. Dr. Hashimoto is a graduate of the University of Miyazaki Faculty of Medicine.

This tour was planned by remote area doctors in Miyazaki Prefecture who graduated from Jichi Medical University and the University of Miyazaki for the aforementioned purposes. In fact, such an initiative had never been carried out before.

It was co-hosted by the Miyazaki Prefecture Remote Medical Support Organization and the Miyazaki Prefecture Physician Recruitment Promotion Council, both of which have their secretariats in the Medical Policy Division of the Prefectural Government.

This tour was budgeted by the Medical Policy Division, and the transportation, accommodation, and meal expenses for participating students were covered free of charge.

Mr. Hiroki Seo and Ms. Yuki Tanigawa from the Medical Policy Division participated.

The tour route started in front of the Hippocrates statue at the University of Miyazaki Faculty of Medicine, traveled by bus to observe medical institutions and welfare facilities in Misato Town, Morotsuka Village, and Shiiba Village, and returned to the university after an overnight stay.

When applications were opened at the University of Miyazaki Faculty of Medicine, the capacity of eight people was filled in just three days.

What surprised me was that everyone was female.

There were students from both the regional quota and the general admission track.

The breakdown is one fourth-year student, five third-year students, and two first-year students.

This tour was joined by Dr. Kota Sakaguchi, who traveled all the way from Shimane Prefecture. Dr. Sakaguchi is an assistant professor at the General Medicine Center of Shimane University Hospital.

Shimane University is a mecca for general practitioners.

I thought that perhaps a new myth of community medicine might be born as he descended from Shimane, the land of myths, to Miyazaki, which is also a land of myths.

Thinking that, I decided to join in from Shiiba Village on an emergency basis.

I brought two bottles of wine I bought at Yamakataya and attended the social gathering.

The stories shared during the self-introductions about the thoughts and feelings that led them to participate in this tour were fascinating.

I felt that it embodied the three major elements of "tourism": ➀ experiencing the extraordinary, ② returning to the original place, and ③ rejuvenation of spirit.

After that, until 11 p.m., we all sat in the room provided by the inn, drinking alcohol and juice while chatting noisily.

It felt as if I had returned to my student days.

Since there is another day today, I will end this post at this time.