Q.What was a typical work day for you?

A.My daily internship duties are filing a variety of new documents, such as medical examination reports, blood test results, pharmaceutical information, or referral forms in each patient’s chart, and organizing it in a cabinet in order. After 4pm, I prepare the charts in order for the next day’s consultations. In addition, I did a screening for I amend an informed consent form of a clinical trial in line with a format of the UBC downtown infectious diseases clinic.

Q.What was most important to be successful at your position?

A.First of all, English communication with native speaker or immigrants from many countries is the most important for me. Second, working in the clinic is also important as much as the first one, in the viewpoint of my research topic, or medical engineering, as shown in the second answer. Third, I learned how Canadian people work, which is totally different from Japanese, as described below.

Q.How did your English improve from working?

A.Almost all the staffs in the clinic are native speaker and patients as well. I had difficulty in listening to informal conversation among them. However, I always tried to catch their words and it was good practice to improve my listening skill. In addition, I have talked to not only staffs but also patients, which improved my speaking ability.

Q.Would you recommend this program to other students?

A.Yes, I do. The program let me find myself to listening to the informal conversation of native speakers, which is sometimes very fast and different from textbook English. However, I have been gradually getting used to it. Moreover, the program is effective way to learn Canadian culture or backgrounds. The work program provided me an invaluable experience which I would never be able to experience in Japan.