Medical education system. The 8-year Integrated Curriculum in the Context of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Medical Education / 医学教育

Two years of postgraduate medical education will soon be required. We propose an 8-year integrated curriculum for the organic combination of the undergraduate and postgraduate education. In postgraduate education, clinical professors should responsibly train junior physicians as part of a systematic programs. The curriculum must include not only medical knowledge and skills but also clinical ethics for 8 years, which will contribute to the development of qualified physician desired by society.

Medical education system. Introduction of the Clinical Professor System to Improve Clinical Competences of Medical Students / 医学教育

Japanese medical school graduates who have just been licensed cannot properly conduct historytaking and physical examination because of inadequate undergraduate clinical practical training. We propose that each medical school should recruit senior physicians in its affiliated teaching hospitals as clinical professors who clinically train medical students in their own hospitals, evaluate the clinical competences of the students, and also participate in improving the undergraduate clinical curriculum of the medical school. The students poorly evaluated by clinical professors should not be allowed to graduate, while the clinical professors are evaluated by students and the medical school for renewal of the professorship.