私は卒後12年目にオーストラリアのメルボルンにあるSt. Vincent HospitalのDepartment of Plastic, Reconstructive and Hand SurgeryのDirectorであるDr. Grinsellのprivate clinical fellowとして1年間臨床留学しました。当科は1970年代にリンパ浮腫に対しLVAを積極的に行ったO’Brien先生や、オーストラリア初の手移植成功で有名です。私の臨床留学は、留学１年半前にたまたま受け取った私宛でもない海外臨床留学にまつわる1通のメールがきっかけでした。そのメールを受け取った夜に湧き上がったメルボルンで働きたいという衝動だけで駆け抜けた五里霧中手探りでの紆余曲折な準備期間は想像以上にハードでしたが、実際に海外臨床留学で過ごした日々で得たものはとても大きく、形成外科医として大きく成長したように感じます。私の海外留学に実際に漕ぎ着けるまでのたくさんの反省すべき点の紹介と実際にfellowを選定する現地の先生方から伺った選定のポイントを紹介しつつ、海外臨床留学の実際を合わせて紹介します。

In my 12th year after graduating, I studied abroad for one year as a private clinical fellow to Dr. Grinsell, Director of the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Hand Surgery at St. Vincent Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Our department is famous for Dr. O’Brien, who actively performed LVA for lymphedema in the 1970s, and for Australia’s first successful hand transplant. My clinical study abroad was triggered by an email I received a year and a half before I went abroad, which was not addressed to me. The preparation period was harder than I had imagined, as I was rushing through it with only the urge to work in Melbourne, which arose on the night I received the email, and I was groping around in the dark. However, what I gained from the days I spent abroad as a clinical study abroad student was very large, and I feel that I have grown a lot as a plastic surgeon. I will introduce the many things I should have reflected on before I actually got to study abroad, and the selection points I heard from local doctors who actually select fellows, along with the actual experience of studying abroad as a clinical study abroad student.