Tokyo Women's Medical University

School of Medicine

Rehabilitation Medicine

Overview

The aim of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine is to diagnose and evaluate patients who have suffered some kind of disability due to neurological, motor or internal diseases (cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, renal, cancer), etc. and to provide treatment to promote recovery from functional impairment, aiming at independence in activities pf daily living and social reintegration. Causal diseases of patients treated by the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine include stroke, brain tumor, spine disease, rheumatoid arthritis, fracture, osteoarthritis, Parkinson's disease, peripheral neuropathy, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure and myocardial infarction, cancer, and others. Rehabilitation treatment involves physiatrists (rehabilitation doctors), physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologist, prosthetists, nurses and medical social workers who provide each specialized treatment in a team medical care system. Rehabilitation in our hospital is characterized by the fact that we start rehabilitation for patients who are admitted to the intensive care unit or hospital wards at the beginning of their illness or in the early postoperative period. We hold weekly conferences with several departments to share information about patients' conditions and future plans.

Education Details

We offer three lectures to third year students and one lecture to fourth year students. We also offer eight lectures to the second year students of the School of Nursing. For clinical practice, the Department of Orthopedics, which is a required department, conducts clinical training of Rehabilitation Medicine on Friday afternoons. After completing the required clinical rotations, several students each year choose this department as their elective clinical rotation. They also participate in tutorial training.
Each year, 2 to 10 early career residents choose our department as their training site and a clinical training supervisor provides educational guidance during the 1-2 month training period. Young physicians (including late-career residents) who join the department are trained to become board-certified physiatrists (rehabilitation doctors).

Research Details

1. Rehabilitation Nutrition and Clinical Nutrition
2. Sarcopenia, frailty and cachexia
3. Sarcopenic Dysphagia
4. Rehabilitation Pharmacotherapy
5. Medical and Dental Cooperation
6. Effects of rehabilitation in acute care and ICU
7. Higher brain dysfunction in brain tumor patients
8. Rehabilitation for muscular dystrophy, Fukuyama muscular dystrophy, and spinal muscular dystrophy
9. Rehabilitation effects for ischemic heart disease and post-operative cardiac surgery (including implantable ventricular assist device)

Faculty

Wakabayashi Hidetaka

Related links

Research Achievements Database

---