Nihon eiseigaku zasshi. Japanese journal of hygiene
-
Nihon Eiseigaku Zasshi · Jan 2011
Review[Physician shortage in Japan: the new postgraduate medical education program and physicians as a human medical resource].
Japan now faces a serious physician shortage. After introducing the new postgraduate medical education (PGME) system and doctor-to-facility matching system, residents shifted their teaching hospitals from university hospitals to non-university hospitals. Because university hospitals had played a central role in allocating physicians to communities, the decrease in the number of physicians at university hospitals has driven this physician shortage. ⋯ However, a simple increase does not solve the problem of physician shortage unless it also addresses the problem of physician maldistribution. Fourth, the number of females entering medicine is increasing, and women constituted 30% of newly certified physicians in 2010. In this era of physician shortage, female physicians are highly recommended as a human medical resource.