Actual state and problems in neurology training at hospital

Abstract

To evaluate postgraduate neurological education, a questionnaire-based survey regarding junior and senior doctor-in-training and the Board Certification Examination in Neurology was carried out on the training supervisors of 690 insitutes, excluding 80 university hospitals. The institutes included 243 teaching hospitals, 326 semi-teaching hospitals and 121 education-associated institutes authorized by the Japanese Society of Neurology (JSN). The results were obtained from 388 institutes, and the response rate was 56.2%. The percentage of junior doctors-in-training that received training in neurology was 68.6% (the average of 2.1 months during 2 years). More than half of the institutes did not have any teaching programs for junior doctors-in-training who did not train in neurology. In senior doctors-in-training, the number of senior doctors-in-trainings per year per institute was 0.44 and was only able to experience limited types of disorders. Also, many institutes could not achieve training goals by the institutes themselves (56%). The problems were due to lack of teaching staffs and manpower, and there were many requests to the Society regarding training methods. As for the Board Certification Examination in Neurology by the Society, it was revealed that there were small number of candidates per year per institute, and over half of institutes could not sufficiently teach and support them. Most requests to the Society were regarding teaching seminars and hands-on courses, and some institutes asked small group meetings for arts and techniques of neurology to be held the Regional Society. In conclusion, there are problems that cannot be solved by individual institutes alone, and we need procedures for postgraduate training in neurology that is organized by the Regional and JSN working as the central organization.