If injured or get sick in Japan, choose your doctor yourself

photo by AlexProimos

If you get sick or injured in your country, what do you do first? You may say that you would just grab a medicine at a supermarket for mild diseases like a cold, or see a home doctor or GP for more serious symptoms. Having a home doctor or GP is a handy system that has adopted in many countries, but not in Japan. So, if you want to consult a doctor for non-emergency health issue, you need to pick a specialist doctor you want to see by yourself.

No home doctor in Japan

In Japan, a patient visit a specialist in a hospital or a clinic to consult a doctor for general health issue. Japan has no primary care doctors and all doctors are specialists who practice medical treatments in specific areas. Some large general hospitals have a special department to examine any kind of symptoms of general outpatients or first-visit patients. However, such a department exists just to distribute patients to appropriate departments within the hospital and is irrelevant to primary care doctors. Exceptionally, doctors in remote area may perform a similar role as a primary care doctor with one doctor covering multiple areas.

When you visit a hospital…

Processes at outpatient clinics slightly vary by institutions. This section will introduce general processes when visiting a hospital or clinic in Japan.

Check in at the registration desk, which is possibly with the words “受付 (Reception desk)” “総合受付 (General reception)” “初診受付(First visit reception)”, and present your medical insurance card. Fill in a form if it is the first visit to have a medical record file and patient registration card.
Submit your medical record file and patient registration card at the counter of the department you are visiting.
Fill in a medical interview sheet if any.
Once you are called in, enter a consultation room. (There may be another waiting area before a consultation room in some hospitals)
Go back in the first waiting area after the consultation and receive your file and other documents (if any).
Hand in you file and documents from the doctor at check-out desk to make a payment and receive a prescription if any.
Bring the prescription to a pharmacy to buy medicines. (A pharmacy is located outside the hospital most of the time)

※2 and 5 may not necessary in a small clinic as a receptionist passes your medical record file to a doctor and the registration desk doubles as a check-out desk.
※Whether booking is required or not depends on each hospital or clinic. Some are booking only institution while the others are free to visit. Inquire the institution before visiting.

Common specialists

In countries with the primary care system, patients firstly contact their home doctor or GP, then visit a specialist in accordance with the home doctor’s reference if special treatments are required. But in Japan, they need to choose a specialist who can treat their symptoms by themselves. The followings are common specialists and cases they generally treat.

Internal Medicine

Cold and flu, infectious diseases, internal diseases, high blood pressure, lifestyle related diseases such as diabetes, asthma, food allergies, vaccinations

Otorhinologist

Nasal inflammation, allergic rhinitis, hay fever, ear inflammation, hearing loss, empyema

Optometrist

Short-sight, long-sight, turned eye, weak eyes, cataract, glaucoma, inverted eyelashes

Orthopedist

Gash on arms, legs, joints or other parts of body which requires stitch, severe grazing wound, bite wound

Pediatrician

All diseases of children up to about 15 years old, including cold, flu, infectious diseases, allergies

Obstetrician/gynecologist

All diseases related to female-specific organ, examination and treatment related to pregnancy and childbirth

Urologist

All diseases related to kidney, ureter, bladder, urethra and male genitals

Psychosomatic medicine

Ill health caused by psychological factor including stomach pain, diarrhea, constipation, high blood pressure, cardiac infarction

If you need an assistance to communicate in Japanese…

The biggest concern of foreign language speaking patients who receive medical treatments in Japan is language barriers. Unfortunately, it is a quite hard task to find multi-lingual doctors in Japan. Most of doctors may be able to figure out symptoms of his patient by using simple English, but only few of them are fluent enough in languages other than Japanese to make the patient correctly understand about his diagnosis or prescribed medicines. To support foreign language speaking patients who has difficulties to have medical treatments in Japanese due to language barriers, the following organization provide multi-language services such as telephone consultation.

AMDA International Medical Information Center
Inquiry regarding multi-lingual medical facilities and Japanese health care system
Center Tokyo: 03-5285-8088
※English, Thai, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Pilipino, Vietnamese (Some languages are available on the specific day of week)
Osaka Office: 050-3598-7574
※English, Chinese, Korean, Thai and Spanish

Tokyo Metropolitan Medical Institution Information
Inquiry regarding medical facilities and pharmacists, interpretation service over the telephone
※English, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Spanish

Get well, get well soon

In Japan, patients can see specialist doctors without any reference. But sometimes choosing a specialist can be a little confusing, particularly for those who from countries with the primary care system. If you can’t pick right doctor to see, just visit the first-visit reception in a major hospital. Make sure to arrive in early in the morning session as you will more than likely to wait for long if it is a free-visit hospital.