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PP26-110

Activities of the Young Primary Care Doctors Organizationof the Japan Primary Care Association?

For Developing Primary Care in Japan

H. YOSHIMOTOa, K. KINJO

b, M. UI

c, T. TOI

dand K. SATO

e

aDepartment of Family Medicine, Mie University School of Medicine & Graduate School of Medicine, Japan,bDepartment of Family Medicine, Aso-Iizuka Hospital, Iizuka-Kaita Family Medicine Residency Program,

Japan,cDepartment of Emergency and General Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Tama Medical Center, Japan,

dDepartment of Family Medicine, Centre for Family Medicine Development, Japanese Health and Welfare Co-

operative Federation, Japan,eDepartment of General Practice, General Practice and Medical Education Center,

Hokkaido Kin-Ikyo, Japan

In Japan, primary care is undeveloped compared to many other countries. For a long time, only specialists were

trained at medical schools and primary care physicians gained their knowledge during their regular daily work.

In 2004 a new matching system was established to select a hospital for primary residency following graduation

from medical school, and also to choose at which city hospital residents should do their training, including

primary care training. Before 2007 there were few primary care programs, but in that year some 66 residency

programs were established. In 2004, representatives of residents, recent residency graduates of the Japanese

Academy of Family Medicine and young family medicine doctors in the association agreed the following

principles: 1) to study and learn primary care, 2) to attempt to overcome daily problems and concerns, 3) to share

knowledge and thoughts with other young physicians. In 2010, the Japan Primary Care Association joined with

the Japanese Academy of Family Medicine, the Japanese Association of Primary Care, and the Japanese

Association of General Medicine to form one national specialist association. In the same year, the 4th Young

Primary Care Doctors Organization of the Japan Primary Care Association established links with the

organization. Our members have diverse backgrounds (a family physician at a university, a family physician at a

private clinic, a family medicine resident, a generalist at a public hospital and a general medicine resident), and

we believe our organizations diversity could be important in developing primary care in Japan. The activities of

the 4th Young Primary Care Doctors Organization are 1) supporting young doctors projects, including annual

medical seminars with young physicians and medical educational seminars (a project involving 80 medical

schools in Japan), 2) supporting the PCAT (Primary Care for All Teams) project to translate medical information

for physicians in the Tohoku area, following the earthquake, 3) encouraging medical school students and young

residents to become generalists & to inform residency programs about family medicine, primary care and general

medicine by making portfolios and answering questions, 4)showing our activities on our internet blog

(http://blog.livedoor.jp/pc_wakate/), 5) writing about medical topics with case reports in a monthly primary caremedical magazine. Primary care physicians are in demand to support the medical care system in Japan and to

work with specialists. We believe our activities may contribute to the development of primary care in Japan.

Keywords : Family Medicine, The Japan Primary Care Association,

The Young Primary Care Doctors Organization