{"id":40368,"date":"2016-10-05T15:42:53","date_gmt":"2016-10-05T19:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/?p=40368"},"modified":"2016-10-05T15:42:53","modified_gmt":"2016-10-05T19:42:53","slug":"good-doc-bad-doc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/05\/good-doc-bad-doc\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Doc, Bad Doc"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nathaniel Simmons<\/a> (Nara-ken, 2007-2009) is currently a communication professor at Western\u00a0<\/em>Governors University and lives in Columbus, OH, USA. He teaches a variety of intercultural,\u00a0<\/em>interpersonal, and health communication courses. He has researched <\/a>and published several\u00a0<\/em>scholarly articles regarding privacy management between foreign English teachers and\u00a0<\/em>Japanese co-workers in Japan and is currently working on turning his research into a book.<\/em><\/p>\n

What makes a good<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0or bad<\/strong><\/em> medical professional?<\/p>\n

From school medical checks to hospital visits, the average ALT has several medical encounters throughout their year(s) in Japan. \u00a0Intrigued by my own experiences within the Japanese medical world, I interviewed 49 foreign English teachers in Japan about their healthcare experiences, and here’s what they said (in a much more condensed format):<\/p>\n

Bad providers violate patients\u2019 cultural expectations\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

ALTs perceived providers that \u201cviolated,\u201d and\/or did not perform culturally expected practices as \u201cbad\u201d providers. \u00a0In other words, if a Japanese medical profession didn’t act as expected, the ALT perceived the experience and the medical provider as negative, or “bad.” \u00a0As an example, one English teacher characterized the difference between a \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cbad\u201d doctor. \u00a0The following is an excerpt that distinguished between two physicians this English teacher encountered while seeking treatment for bronchitis.<\/p>\n

“I walk into his [the\u00a0doctor\u2019s] office and he’s like, \u2018Yeah, you’re not healthy I can hear you from outside. \u00a0This isn’t just a cold is it?\u2019 \u2018No.\u2019 \u00a0Just from hearing me cough he knew that I wasn’t well. \u00a0He says to me, \u2018You either have bronchitis or pneumonia. \u00a0We\u2019re going to take an x-ray and blood tests to find out.\u2019 \u00a0Difference in doctor right there! One of them [the bad one] just hands out a diagnosis and is like I think you might need antibiotics and the other [the good one] is like I want to do a blood test and do an x-ray to make sure you need the antibiotics and if they’re the right kind. \u00a0So that doctor, the good doctor, figures out all the information I needed. \u00a0The bad doctor, is like, \u2018I’m going to give you medicine now. \u00a0Goodbye. \u00a0Give me \u00a5600.\u2019”<\/p>\n

This ALT’s experience with an array of Japanese medical professionals\u00a0within Japan allowed the ALT\u00a0to construct a comparison and contrast of \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cbad\u201d doctors.\u00a0 According to this ALT, good doctors either knew quickly what was wrong with a patient or took immediate action to determine what was causing the patient illness or discomfort as well as how to alleviate it.\u00a0 The \u201cgood\u201d doctor sought to understand the patient\u2019s perspective and the illness versus simply\u00a0handing out an antibiotic which may not treat the illness for a fee.<\/p>\n

Throughout interviews with ALTs, “bad” providers were described as:<\/p>\n