ABSTRACT
<b>Introduction</b><br> Recently, foreign residents' difficulties using the Japanese medical system are being acknowledged. This study investigates the case of the medical intake forms, <i>monshinhyo</i>, that new patients at Japanese medical facilities must complete.Many patients, especially non-native ones, find them difficult.<br><b>Method</b><br> First, 6 foreign and 6 Japanese students (hereafter, FS and JS) at 4-year universities were interviewed regarding their understanding of <i>monshinhyo</i> taken from three different departments -obstetrical, surgical, and internal medicine - at a hospital in Kansai; then, a questionnaire was developed and given to 25 FS and 85 JS.<br><b>Results</b><br> Both FS and JS noted language problems. JS could pronounce medical terms better than FS but comprehended them only about as well as FS. Moreover, both FS and JS found the styles, layouts, and purposes of some questions unclear, and they sometimes had to guess the details of what <i>monshinhyo</i> requested. These included questions involving symptoms, divisions of medical departments, and semantic range of terms for blood relations. Also, medical practices/norms not found in the native country sometimes puzzled FS.<br><b>Conclusions</b><br> Problems with <i>monshinhyo</i> arise from <i>both</i> the patients' side-Japanese as well as foreign-due to limited medical-related vocabulary/kanji and/or a lack of experience using Japanese medical services, <i>and</i> the <i>monshinhyo</i> themselves, due to their inclusion of unclear questions and ambiguous expressions. Probably, <i>monshinhyo's</i> authors' familiarity with medical terms and the Japanese medical system caused them to take for granted more knowledge than many patients actually have. To improve medical services, therefore, we suggest reexamining and reorganizing questions that already exist, introducing multiple choice and yes/no questions when possible, and providing <i>furigana</i> for <i>kanji</i>. Fundamentally, throughout the medical system, patients should be able to understand all the language they encounter. Clarifying the language, cultural assumptions, and purpose(s) of <i>monshinhyo</i> is a good starting point.