SCU Signs Pact with Taipei City Hospital to Offer More Learning Opportunities

On September 18, 2017, Soochow University held an exchange seminar with Taipei City Hospital and signed a cooperation agreement with the hospital as a teaching partner to integrate the achievements and teaching resources of humanities and law of SCU, and to jointly promote “people-oriented and altruistic” community medical service with people in the medical field.

The two parties are planning to offer a Master credit program of medical management and legal dispute,” which will provide further training for medical personnel and enrich their experiences as well as knowledge in the fields of humanities and law. The hospital will also provide opportunities of full-time internship in clinic and consulting for SCU students in departments of psychology and social work, and send relevant professionals to deliver speeches and lectures in the university.

In recent years, hospice and long-term care in Taiwan has become a hot topic to the public as related medical disputes and ethical issues have been heated up. SCU President Wei-Ta Pan, along with Sheng-Jean Huang, the superintendent of Taipei City Hospital, on behalf of the two sides signed a cooperation agreement in the hope of creating a cross-field learning and exchange environment and cultivating more humanistic health care practitioners. They also hoped to bring doctor-patient relationship closer and reduce medical disputes, enhancing the quality of community medical services, so that people in Taiwan would benefit from the more humane and thoughtful medical care.

 In the seminar, after the introduction by the vice-president of Taipei City Hospital Lin-Chung Woung and the vice-president of SCU Pao-Cheng Dung, the superintendent Sheng-Jean Huang and Professor of SCU School of Law Dong-Mao Lin gave their presentations, respectively, on “Medical Disputes” and "Medical Dispute Handling- Centered on Cases of Criminal Liabilities.” Participants from the hospital and SCU discussed the issues and exchanged ideas in full enthusiasm. It was concluded that home care is a trend, but there are certain risks and problems. Cross-field teams need to work together to make sure that medical law and criminal law could advance with the times.

Although there is no medical-related department in Soochow University, the school is showing its active strength of cross-field cooperation and practicing its social responsibility by signing the cooperation agreement with Taipei City Hospital, one of the leaders in Taiwan's community health service, said President Pan. He also mentioned that the school has cultivated a lot of talented people in the field of law. If legal professionals could also feel and understand more about hospice care, the so-called judgements or verdicts “according to the law” will not just be something cold and apathetic, but will take into full consideration all elements of reasons and sensibilities and laws. And he believed that such cooperation between SCU and Taipei City Hospital will create a win-win situation.

Superintendent Sheng-Jean Huang said that the "Humanistic Academy" initiated by Taipei City Hospital medical system in recent years to promote a cultural reform has been gradually reaping a harvest. He added that medical care, which is Taiwan’s lifeline, plus the power of humanistic care and love, will make home care and long-term care service long-lasting and extensive. He is looking forward to creating more medical miracles with the excellent medical resources of Taipei City Hospital as well as the great learning atmosphere of Soochow University by signing the agreement.

Shier-Chieg Huang, the commissioner of Department of Health of Taipei City Government, pointed out that due to the currently incomprehensive supporting measures related to home care, many doctors are reluctant to step out of hospitals. Change of the thought and the "people-oriented” spirit are urgently needed. He said that Taipei City Hospital has rooted in home medical care and long-term care services for years as a role model that many hospitals and schools gain experience from. He also hoped that this cooperation may enhance the service quality of Taipei City Hospital medical care and research energy, cultivating more excellent cross-field talents and a better medical care environment for all people in Taiwan.