Mentorship and a supportive culture from the rheumatology faculty were also influential. Other factors included a better work-life balance in rheumatology compared with other specialties.
Shared Challenges & Joys
Despite different healthcare systems, I found that doctors and patients face similar challenges worldwide.
Patients discontinued medications without supervision, much to the surprise of their family members. Others expressed hesitation to start medications due to concerns about side effects.
Language barriers were also common, especially for patients from rural areas who don’t speak Mandarin. In these cases, they often brought along an adult child to help with interpretation.
This highlighted the importance of communication in healthcare.
“The biggest challenge [in rheumatology] is that patients have difficulty understanding their disease, high expectations for disease cure and low compliance with recommended testing and treatments,” shared Liuyan Nie, MD.
“Staying abreast of the rapid development of technology and knowledge is also a challenge,” Nan He, MD, added.
Lastly, balancing research, clinical duties and one’s personal life seems to be a universal dilemma.
Final Thoughts
My time at SRRSH was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I had the privilege of learning from an exceptional team of doctors and staff who provided fresh perspectives on healthcare. My experience there made me reexamine our practice and healthcare system through a new lens. Though my time there was brief, I felt I made lasting connections.
The opportunity to collaborate, exchange ideas and learn about different healthcare systems was invaluable. I hope we, as rheumatologists, can continue to build connections and share knowledge across global healthcare systems.
Audrey Liu, MD, recently completed her rheumatology fellowship at Loma Linda University, California.
References
- World Health Organization. Density of physicians (per 10 000 population) 2025 data. Accessed on 12 March 2025. https://tinyurl.com/mt4sr6sm.
- Xie S, Li S, Tian J, Li F. Iguratimod as a new drug for rheumatoid arthritis: Current landscape. Front Pharmacol. 2020 Feb 26;11:73.
- Mei L, Gao K, He X, et al. Editorial: Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs: Approaches and lessons learned from traditional medicine. Front Pharmacol. 2023 Feb 3;14:1135803.
- Fan Y, Gao D, Zhang Z. Telitacicept, a novel humanized, recombinant TACI-Fc fusion protein, for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus. Drugs Today (Barc). 2022 Jan;58(1):23–32.
- S-I Hung, W-H Chung, L-B Liou, et al. HLAB* 5801 allele as a genetic marker for severe cutaneous adverse reactions caused by allopurinol. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Mar 15;102 (11):4134–4139.
- Chen C, Liu M. Achievements and challenges of the healthcare system in China. Cureus. 2023 May 15;15(5):e39030.
