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Diploma and Curriculum Policies of the Faculty of Medicine

Department of Medicine

Diploma Policy

From the viewpoint of developing doctors and medical researchers who assume major roles in developing medicine and medical care, the Faculty of Medicine awards a degree to students who:

  1. Have a deep knowledge of medicine and medical care and not only keep up with their rapid advance but also develop them further to contribute to society,
  2. Are equipped with academic skills and abilities that form the foundation of practicing clinical medicine and research, and
  3. Possess basic abilities that allow students to become clinical doctors or clinical and basic medicine researchers and also opt for various other career paths like administrative officials.

Curriculum Policy

Overall Policy
  1. The Faculty of Medicine develops medical people who have a wide perspective and can study, think and create on their own and further improve such abilities.
  2. The faculty nurtures medical people who know the sanctity of life and are equipped with a sense of ethics as medical people, rich in humanity and receptive to various views of life.
Policy for Each Academic Year
First Year

Foundation Education for Cultivation of Human Power

  • Students have contact with a variety of disciplines, broaden their perspectives on culture, society and nature and widen study and knowledge in order to cultivate qualities as human beings before becoming good medical people or researchers.
  • A smooth shift to specialty courses is emphasized and students study a part of basic medicine from an early stage.
  • Students take part in practices where they can come in touch with the medical scene, study the basic things required of a doctor and enhance interest in medicine.
Second Year

Basic Medicine in General

  • Students effectively study basic medicine, the foundation of the entire medicine spectrum, including its significance to clinical medicine. Students cultivate basic specialty knowledge as practical science through lectures and practices covering the human body's structure and functions, metabolism, biological defense, pharmacology and pathology. They also study basic theories and methods that assist the basic understanding of malignant tumors and the progress of life sciences.
Third Year

Basis of Clinical Medicine and Social Medicine

  • On the basis of knowledge obtained from studying basic medicine, students master basic theories necessary for clinical medicine. Students study basic knowledge needed to study causes and workings of disease and trauma of internal organs and their diagnosis and treatment. They also acquire problem-solving skills to research pathological conditions, and diagnosis and treatment methods on the basis of actual cases and consider options on their own.
  • Students study mechanisms of society concerning medicine and medical care, living environment and various problems surrounding health and medical care in order to obtain qualities and abilities to solve problems from a wide perspective.
Fourth Year

Practical Skills Necessary for Medical Examination

  • Students acquire practical knowledge and skills needed for medical examination and foster qualities generally required of a doctor on the basis of knowledge obtained in the third year. They also study things related to social needs and issues like community medicine.
  • fourth year stresses the cultivation of abilities good enough to start clinical practices. Students who have achieved qualifications for clinical practices receive the title of Student Doctor and start clinical practices.
Fifth and Sixth Years

Medical Examination and Differential Diagnosis Skills through Clinical Practices

  • Students deepen their understanding of disease diagnosis, examination and treatment as basic medical skills in clinical medicine. Through team medicine, they also have on-the-spot study on responsibilities as and qualities required of a doctor, such as medicine safety, a patient-centered point of view and communication skills.
  • Upon fulfilling qualifications after one-year clinical practices, students carry out clinical practices as a member of a further advanced medical team to deepen understanding of their specialty fields with an eye to initial medical internships after graduation and future careers.
  • After completing all clinical practices, students organize their knowledge obtained through the six-year course, cultivate the ability to pass the national qualification examination for medical practitioners and qualities contributing to society as medical people rich in humanity.
Performance Assessment
  • Academic achievements for each of the above stages are assessed at the end of the academic year and students who have passed the assessment can be promoted to the next year.
  • The faculty conducts a computer-based test (CBT) and a primary objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) before students start clinical practices in a bid to gauge their medical knowledge comprehensively and objectively and ensure the basic practical abilities like attitude and skills in treating patients. Students who have completed one-year clinical practices undergo an advanced OSCE.

Department of Nursing

Diploma Policy

The Department of Nursing awards a bachelor's degree in nursing to students who have completed its curriculum and obtained the prescribed number of credits. The degree assures that the holders:

  • Respect the sanctity of life and rights as human beings and can provide nursing service from the standpoint of always protecting service recipients to help them lead their usual lives,
  • Are equipped with basic and practical nursing skills to offer evidence-based safe service,
  • Possess teamwork and management skills to address problems in an organized manner in collaboration with people involved in public health, medical care and welfare,
  • Have attitude to take interest in changes in society and people's lives both in Japan and abroad, understand the roles, functions and responsibilities of nursing that responds to such changes and try to carry out a nursing reform as required, and
  • Have the ability to think scientifically and creativity as well as attitude for lifetime self-improvement.

Curriculum Policy

In line with the above diploma policy, the department compiles its curriculum as follows in order to develop nurses who can play active roles in the community's public health, medical care and welfare fields.

First Year

Understanding of Human Beings through Foundation Education
First-year education emphasizes broadening knowledge in a wide variety of academic disciplines, including human beings, symbiosis, culture and society, and nature and science, so that students respect life and acquire a wide knowledge of human beings to assist people to maintain their health. Students also acquire a whole-person viewpoint through human body structure, human body function, clinical psychology and other specialty subject classes and nursing science introduction and communication classes.

Second Year

Basics of Evidence-Based Safe Nursing
The second year offers basic specialty subjects like nursing pharmacology, nursing pathology, nosography, theory of medical, health and welfare administration and statistics for nursing to allow students to analyze health and medical phenomena and implement nursing activities based on a scientific ground to solve health problems. They study basic nursing skills to provide life assisting care according to the health conditions of care recipients through lectures and seminars on basic nursing and integrate their knowledge, skills and attitude through basic nursing practices. Students also study the basics of nursing, health and medical care through introductions to nursing disciplines, family nursing and epidemiology.

Third Year

Learning Nursing Practice According to Characteristics of Care Recipients
Students acquire professional nursing knowledge in the realms of adult, elderly, infant, maternity, psychiatric, community and home nursing. Students who have obtained required credits from all these subjects and achieved a prescribed level in an objective examination of practical nursing skills are awarded the title Student Nurse, Faculty of Medicine, Yamagata University, and undergo on-site practices at hospitals, elderly facilities and nurseries. They assist attending of convalescing patients to gain various practical nursing skills.

Fourth Year

Accomplishing Nursing Skill Targets
For deeper understanding of the various roles, functions and responsibilities of the nursing profession, the fourth year provides such specialty subjects as care coordination, nursing education, nursing administration and international health. It also offers nursing research and integrated special practices to allow students to acquire inquisitive and creative thinking skills, set study tasks and goals necessary for professionals in health and medical care, overcome problems and achieve the goals. To guarantee the quality of education to society, the department implements an objective examination of practical nursing skills and an integrated special examination to assess students' achievement of practical nursing skills at the time of graduation.