[Special Feature: 30 Years of SFC] SFC and Me: The Significance of Studying Nursing and Medical Care at SFC

"Phew, finally Shonandai..." It took just under two hours one way, transferring trains from Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture. From there, I would head to SFC by bus. On clear days, I could admire a magnificent view of Mt. Fuji from the bus window. I entered the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care in 2001 as part of its first graduating class. Although it was a long commute, I was comforted by the scenery around SFC and attended classes every day with a sense of excitement.

Students of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care spend most of their time at the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care Building, which is about a 10-minute walk from the main SFC campus zone, as many of their classes are held there. During my first and second years, I wanted to study subjects other than nursing, such as languages, so at the beginning of each semester, I would look at the timetables and syllabi of the Faculty of Policy Management and the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies to research interesting classes. However, I repeatedly had to give up on taking them because they overlapped with the compulsory subjects of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, or because it was difficult to move between locations during break times (currently, a shuttle bus runs between the main zone and the nursing zone, but at that time, walking to the main building was the only option). However, even in classes held at the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, there were subjects where faculty members from the Faculty of Policy Management or Faculty of Environment and Information Studies gave lectures, or where seniors from those faculties and graduate students from the Graduate School of Media and Governance served as SAs and TAs. I vividly remember being deeply impacted by the interactions with them, their advice from unexpected angles, and our discussions.

In my fourth year, wanting to expand my world further, I finally took several classes in the main campus zone as I had long desired. Among them, the "Brain Information Science" class left a particularly strong impression. It was a class where we learned about human brain functions, mechanisms of movement, sensation, memory, and thought, but at the end of every session, the discussion would shift to, "If we replace this with a computer..." or "In terms of a mechanical system..." Until I got used to it, I had a slight rejection response, thinking, "Humans as computers?!" Looking back now, however, it was an opportunity to learn about the themes that people in other faculties were pursuing. It was an experience where I could feel firsthand how they were seeking approaches to enrich human life by utilizing computers and information technology through the analysis of the human brain and body mechanisms.

It also became an opportunity for me to reconsider what a human being is, and what I can and should do as a nurse regarding various issues in society. I learned that we must flexibly utilize research and knowledge from other academic fields in the medical and nursing fields, and conversely, we must promote nursing knowledge so that it can be useful to other academic fields.

These experiences from my undergraduate days continue to influence me today. In nursing, which supports people in living healthily and growing, it is important to perceive and analyze subjects from multifaceted perspectives and find solutions. With the aging population, progress in medical technology, and increasing social diversity, the environment surrounding people's lives is becoming increasingly complex. It is expected that challenges that cannot be solved by conventional nursing methods, or issues requiring more effective interventions, will continue to pile up. Therefore, I strongly recognize the urgent need to create care while integrating interdisciplinary knowledge from diverse perspectives and creatively building evidence, and to connect this to the practice of nursing and medical care.

Since 2011, Keio University has conducted a joint educational program among the three medical-related faculties—the School of Medicine, the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, and the Faculty of Pharmacy. While this is, of course, extremely important for medical professionals, I believe that learning the foundations of nursing at SFC is equally important. At SFC, where a culture of exploring clues for creative problem-solving with free and rich ideas using cutting-edge technology is established, broadening one's horizons and interests through exposure to diverse academic fields and various experiences, including extracurricular activities, leads to developing the power to creatively take on challenges and lead the future in response to social diversification and globalization. The significance of studying nursing in such an environment is immense.

Currently, I am involved with students as a faculty member of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care. Recently, when I participated in a project (seminar) presentation for fourth-year students, I was able to hear presentations full of originality—for example, students considering collected data by incorporating economic perspectives rather than staying within nursing and medical care, or pursuing issues they identified from unique viewpoints. I was truly impressed, thinking, "As expected of students from the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care," and at the same time, I was greatly stimulated. A major strength of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care is that there are many faculty members who, since my time as an undergraduate, enjoy and support students' interests and various activities both inside and outside the university.

As I am currently affiliated with the Shinanomachi Campus and primarily use clinical settings as my research field, I feel frustrated that I have not been able to engage much in the interdisciplinary activities I have described. However, I hope to eventually collaborate with people at SFC and work on research and practical activities, striving to support people's health as an expert in nursing.