title: Supporting rural remote physicians to conduct a study and write a paper: experience of Clinical Research Support Team (CRST)-Jichi.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Jichi Medical University (JMU) is the only medical school in Japan that is devoted solely to producing rural and remote doctors. To support research activities of its graduates, mainly young graduates under obligatory rural service, JMU established a voluntary team, Clinical Research Support Team (CRST)-Jichi.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  CRST-Jichi consists of current and past JMU faculty members; all of them are specialists of certain medical fields and many are also graduates of JMU who have completed rural service. A client who asks the CRST for advice on study design or editing a paper emails the CRST to ask for support in conducting a study. Then, core members of the CRST assign the job to a registered specialist of the corresponding topic, who becomes a 'responsible supporter' and continues to support the client until a paper has been published. During the 3 years from July 2010, 12 English papers have been published in international peer-review journals, two Japanese papers in domestic journals, and 13 studies are in progress. Ninety-one percent of clients were satisfied with the service, and eighty-two percent considered their papers would not have been published if they had not used the service. Sense of commitment, existence of JMU-graduated specialists, and quick response were reported by clients as major strengths of CRST-Jichi.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The experience of CRST-Jichi can potentially be transferred to not only other Japanese medical schools with rural doctor production programs, which are now rapidly increasing as part of a national policy, but also rural medical education systems in other countries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Jichi Medical University, Shimotsuke, Tochigi, Japan. matsushi@jichi.ac.jp.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsubara
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Jichi Medical University, Shimotsuke, Tochigi, Japan. okuchi@jichi.ac.jp.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ohkuchi
authors.affiliation: Center for Community Medicine, Jichi Medical University, Shimotsuke, Tochigi, Japan. kmskt@jichi.ac.jp.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kamesaki
authors.affiliation: Center for Medical Education, Jichi Medical University, Shimotsuke, Tochigi, Japan. i-shizu@jichi.ac.jp.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Jichi Medical University, Shimotsuke, Tochigi, Japan. nakamuyk@jichi.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Community-Based Medical System, Faculty of Medicine, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan. matmo10@jb3.so-net.ne.jp.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D034742:Electronic Mail; D006801:Humans; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D010820:Physicians; D011365:Professional Practice Location; D012424:Rural Population
keywords: Asia; Continuing Professional Education; Postgraduate; Researcher