Rehabilitative intervention led to some improvement in bodily function in a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and aspiration pneumonia. By alleviating dyspnea and providing successful supportive care, he improved his sitting position in a wheelchair and reacquired transfer skills. Achieving this reduced burden on his primary caregiver. During rehabilitation, our multidisciplinary team considered the necessary support and care required for the patient to live at home in a sparsely populated area. As a result, we plan to improve his home life after discharge. This stimulated hope and motivation in both the patient and his caregiver to improve his home life, and their increased motivation led them to participate in ALS group meetings. Ultimately, the patient was discharged home.

The extent to which students’ experiences are enriched by incorporating anthropology into clinical education in undergraduate medical education has not been adequately examined. The authors have collaborated to integrate anthropological fieldwork with clinical education in a clinical clerkship course. Reflection on the course has highlighted that the principles of anthropological fieldwork have stimulated changes in the roles of both faculty and students, as well as their interpersonal dynamics. These changes have the potential to promote an ‘education emerged from serendipity in the field’ approach, which tends to be undervalued in the current clinical training driven by the prevailing outcome-based medical education paradigm.