An online symposium was held by emergency physicians to consider balancing work style reform and community medical care starting next fiscal year, and opinions were expressed that it is necessary to resolve the bias of doctors by region and department in order to improve long working hours.
This symposium was held online by the Japanese Society of Emergency Medicine on the evening of the 4th, as the "Work Style Reform for Doctors" will begin next April Japan, which will set a cap on overtime work for working doctors.
In the report, Shigeto Takeshima, director of the emergency department of Yaeyama Prefectural Hospital on Ishigaki Island in Okinawa Prefecture, reported on the current situation where doctors provide regular medical care after being on duty and are dispatched to support clinics on remote islands on holidays.
Dr. Minoru Nakano, director of Maebashi Red Cross Hospital in Gunma Prefecture, pointed out that there is a shortage of doctors at hospitals who support medical care at night and on holidays and doctors in departments that require emergency response, and pointed out that "there is a tendency to work long hours in surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency departments, etc., and there is a problem of uneven distribution of doctors among departments."
At the symposium, specific measures such as consolidating emergency physicians at base hospitals were discussed, and discussions were held on balancing emergency physicians with regional medical care.