ABSTRACT
Objective：Only 44 of the 82 university medical schools in Japan have rehabilitation medicine departments, although rehabilitation medicine is one of the 19 basic specialties recognized by the Japanese Medical Specialty Board, and many medical doctors are concerned regarding selecting rehabilitation medicine as a basic specialty without sufficient education in the field. The “Let's Become a Physiatrist” Seminar has been organized since 2017 to eliminate such concerns, and this study aimed to investigate how these results are manifested in the number of majors.Methods：We examined the number of past attendees and tracked how many of them became rehabilitation medicine majors.Results：The number of seminar attendees over a 5-year period was 589. The number of on-demand viewers in FY2020 and FY2021, which were held via the web, was 554. A total of 116 of the 471 physicians who began specialty training in rehabilitation medicine after the seminar was planned attended or web viewed the seminar accounting for 24.63％．This percentage has been increasing each year, with 36.81％ of the majors who applied in 2022 attending the seminar, and the number of multiple attendees also increased. The number of majors has increased significantly doubling to 144 in 2022 compared with 74 in 2018.Conclusion：In many cases, the seminar helped the attendees learn more about physiatrists and develop their thoughts while attending multiple times. Thus, they started their majors. Five years have passed since we started planning this seminar, and we believe that the results are now coming to fruition.
ABSTRACT
Objective：Only 44 of the 82 university medical schools in Japan have rehabilitation medicine departments, although rehabilitation medicine is one of the 19 basic specialties recognized by the Japanese Medical Specialty Board, and many medical doctors are concerned regarding selecting rehabilitation medicine as a basic specialty without sufficient education in the field. The “Let's Become a Physiatrist” Seminar has been organized since 2017 to eliminate such concerns, and this study aimed to investigate how these results are manifested in the number of majors.Methods：We examined the number of past attendees and tracked how many of them became rehabilitation medicine majors.Results：The number of seminar attendees over a 5-year period was 589. The number of on-demand viewers in FY2020 and FY2021, which were held via the web, was 554. A total of 116 of the 471 physicians who began specialty training in rehabilitation medicine after the seminar was planned attended or web viewed the seminar accounting for 24.63％．This percentage has been increasing each year, with 36.81％ of the majors who applied in 2022 attending the seminar, and the number of multiple attendees also increased. The number of majors has increased significantly doubling to 144 in 2022 compared with 74 in 2018.Conclusion：In many cases, the seminar helped the attendees learn more about physiatrists and develop their thoughts while attending multiple times. Thus, they started their majors. Five years have passed since we started planning this seminar, and we believe that the results are now coming to fruition.
ABSTRACT
Objective：In Japan, there are three types of wearable walking assistance robots available in the market (some for rent). While the appearances thereof are similar, each has distinctive characteristics targeting different patients. For these to be used widely, an understanding of their characteristics is essential. We examined the method by which these robots became popular by surveying the awareness about them among members of the Japanese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine.Method：We conducted an online survey among members of the Japanese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine from February 13 to March 31, 2017. The robots included HAL by CYBERDYNE INC., WPAL by ASKA Corporation and Tomei Brace Co., Ltd., and ReWalk by ReWalk Robotics, Inc. and Yaskawa Electric Corporation. The questions on the survey were set to inquire if the respondents were aware of the contents of each device advocated by the manufacturer.Results：We received valid responses from 266 respondents. Of them, 82.7% indicated an interest in robotic rehabilitation. The awareness about each device was 96.6%, 51.5%, and 46.2%, while the percentage of individuals understanding the purpose of each was 87.2%, 67.2%, and 73.2% for HAL, WPAL, and ReWalk, respectively. The actual implementation in rehabilitation remained at 23.7%, with 31.6% wishing to participate in a robotic hands-on plan if one existed.Conclusion：The notification of correct information and experience are necessary for the spread of awareness about walking assistance robots, and a hands-on plan is one of the effective methods.
ABSTRACT
Objective：In Japan, there are three types of wearable walking assistance robots available in the market (some for rent). While the appearances thereof are similar, each has distinctive characteristics targeting different patients. For these to be used widely, an understanding of their characteristics is essential. We examined the method by which these robots became popular by surveying the awareness about them among members of the Japanese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine.Method：We conducted an online survey among members of the Japanese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine from February 13 to March 31, 2017. The robots included HAL by CYBERDYNE INC., WPAL by ASKA Corporation and Tomei Brace Co., Ltd., and ReWalk by ReWalk Robotics, Inc. and Yaskawa Electric Corporation. The questions on the survey were set to inquire if the respondents were aware of the contents of each device advocated by the manufacturer.Results：We received valid responses from 266 respondents. Of them, 82.7% indicated an interest in robotic rehabilitation. The awareness about each device was 96.6%, 51.5%, and 46.2%, while the percentage of individuals understanding the purpose of each was 87.2%, 67.2%, and 73.2% for HAL, WPAL, and ReWalk, respectively. The actual implementation in rehabilitation remained at 23.7%, with 31.6% wishing to participate in a robotic hands-on plan if one existed.Conclusion：The notification of correct information and experience are necessary for the spread of awareness about walking assistance robots, and a hands-on plan is one of the effective methods.