A model for attracting physicians to rural areas by improving residency training programs, part 1 / 医学教育

ABSTRACT

A shortage of physicians in rural areas has become a serious problem of the new residency training program in Japan. To address this problem, we propose a model for attracting physicians to rural areas by improving residency training programs and by evaluating a curriculum introduced at Kainan Hospital, a community hospital. In this first paper, we describe the short-term evaluation of the curriculum.1) We introduced clinical teams in which residents were able to actively participate in clinical practice as team members by being supervised by senior physicians. We also introduced teaching rounds and case conferences for residents.2) Focus-group interviews of residents showed that "giving educational opportunities to residents" and "an explicit policy of the hospital to improve the residency training program" are examples of ways to improve residency programs.3) The number of residents working at Kainan Hospital increased. The residency training program was somewhat improved.4) An effective and easily generalized way to provide residents with more learning opportunities is to involve clinicians in teaching residents in hospitals.