Nationwide Survey of Rehabilitation Medical Services at Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions in Japan / The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine

ABSTRACT

Children's hospitals and related institutions, along with habilitation/rehabilitation facilities for children with disabilities, practice pediatric rehabilitation medicine. However, the status of rehabilitation medical services at children's hospitals has not been examined. To help improve pediatric rehabilitation medicine, we aimed to clarify it with this study. We performed a nationwide survey targeting the Japanese Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions. The median numbers of full-time rehabilitation doctors, board-certified rehabilitation doctors, and board-certified instructors per institution were one, zero, and zero, respectively. The median numbers of full-time physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language-hearing therapists, and clinical psychologists were nine, five, three, and two, respectively. Demand for increasing the number of rehabilitation staff members was high across all specialties. Only about half the institutions surveyed were certified as training facilities by the Japanese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine. Some institutions did not meet the health insurance system's higher-level criteria for rehabilitation facilities. The construction of an appropriate medical service framework and an increase in hospital services, including staff assignment, will be needed to improve pediatric rehabilitation and to expand research and education in this field.