St. Luke’s International Hospital

More than a century after St. Luke’s International Hospital was founded in Tsukiji a designated residential area for foreigners around the start of the 20th century, we still heed the mission statement that was formulated by the founder, Dr. Rudolf B. Teusler, in 1933, as the driving force behind our management operations.

This hospital is a living organism
designed to demonstrate
in convincing terms
the transmuting power of Christian love
when applied
in relief of human suffering

“Christian love” means to look at matters from the patient’s point of view and value framework. In clinical practice, this translates into staff who individually endeavor to provide “medical care that supports and comforts patients suffering physical and emotional pain.” In the same way “living organism” means to grow sensitively to advances in medicine and changes in the social environment, backed by leading-edge education and research, to provide “high quality medical care.”

At present, to provide, “medical care that supports and comforts patients suffering physical and emotional pain,” we take the results of evaluation by regular and frequent questionnaire surveys of patients, as well as patients’ direct letters and comments seriously, trying our best to respond appropriately. The provision of “high quality healthcare” is reflected by having been accredited by the international hospital evaluation body, JCI (Joint Commission International), since 2012; and also having been exemplified by the OECD in its “Reviews of Health Care Quality JAPAN” report in August 2015 for the QI (Quality Indicator) system introduced and followed at St. Luke’s International Hospital to continuously improve the level of service we provide.

We take pride in the fact that we can accept a high number of ambulances within the metropolitan area, and that we can serve as a truly general hospital by serving both as an emergency care hospital with highly specialized intensive care facilities, while also covering palliative care and fields that consist mainly of outpatient services. We also maximize the benefit of having been integrated as an affiliated institution with St. Luke’s International University in 2014 to increasingly promote excellent training of all medical and healthcare workers, and front-line research, to deserve the trust of our patients as an institution committed to the provision of high quality medical care.

Founder and Philosophy
Our hospital was founded in 1901 by Dr. Rudolf Bolling Teusler, a missionary doctor from the American Episcopalian Church.

Dr. Teusler, arriving in Japan at the age of 25, started a clinic and eventually expanded it into a hospital. While this collapsed in the Great Kanto Earthquake, the excellence of its philosophy, coupled with Dr. Teusler’s considerable powers of execution, led to it being rebuilt. Construction on a full-fledged hospital was completed in 1933. In 1936, St. Luke’s International Medical Center was officially founded.

The hospital escaped being damaged in the Pacific War, and was requisitioned for 11 years as an American Forces hospital after the war. During this period, St. Luke’s continued to provide local medical care at a neighboring building. After reversion to Japan, we continued acquiring and implementing innovative medical practice, in order to promote continuing excellence. In May 1992, St. Luke’s was rebuilt as a new hospital with leading-edge capabilities, aimed at patient-centered medicine for the 21st century.

Since inception, our aim has been to provide individualized medical care and nursing in the sprit of the institution’s Christian roots.

Today, we continue to make special efforts to integrate medical care services, nursing care, medical care assistance, and administrative health care functions in an organic way, and are doing our utmost to achieve the "best practice" results of a team health care hospital.

Objectives of the Hospital Management
1. To ensure collaboration with patients,we take into consideration patients' values in clinical decisions.
2. To ensure quality medical care, we practice "evidence-based medicine."
3. To provide holistic medicine, we coordinate the expertise of the whole hospital staff.
4. To contribute to the community in medical and nursing care, public health, and welfare, we collaborate with local doctors and institutions.
5. To raise the quality of medical care, nationally and internationally, we continue professional development in all health related fields.
6. To contribute to progress in medical science, we conduct clinical research.
7. To fulfill our role as an international hospital, we prepare to accept patients from abroad.
8. To continuously meet the above objectives, we keep the hospital financially healthy.