[Problems in neurologic specialty training in Japan; a personal view].
Since started as a newly established department in a medical school fourteen years ago, my role as a clinician and teacher/investigator has been hampered by several problems; one is only five full-time faculty members available, simply too small in number, the lack of specialists in neurophysiology, neuropathology and neuroimaging diagnosis in the school, and regularly irregular annual enrollment of residents. Those problems, yet not fully solved, have been in part overcome by the intradepartmental efforts; that is, to run all the electrophysiology works by us, to have the neuropath lab of our own and to read all the neuro-images in our own conferences. It is certainly ideal and efficient, if the persons specialized to the fields teach residents how to run and read. In my experience, however, I had no chance of performing a needle EMG when a resident. In contrast, our approach to let all the residents expose to necessary procedures, of course under the supervision, may have a great impact on the resident's learning experience. It is my recommendation, if I can, that in-training examination be done 2-3 years prior to the neurology board, the subspecialty training course needs to be more comprehensive, covering the entire basic and clinical subjects in one full week or so, and our Neurology Association eases the passing rate of neurology board exam (currently between 30-60%), when the association figures out the number of neurologists necessary in Japan for next 10-20 years. The tough exam has certainly served a role of producing well-qualified neurologists, which we are proud of. However, our young trainees in neurology require something else, that is, to touch and feel the patients, electrodes, specimens and neuro-images by themselves. Then, one will be able to perform the role of a fully practice-oriented neurologist, wherever he has to work.
Yamamoto
Teiji
T
Department of Neurology, Fukushima Medical University.
D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D007564:Japan; D009462:Neurology / Q000193:education*