An academic teaching hospital--the Japanese model

The purpose of this paper is to give some ideas about the requirements for a truly academic hospital, presenting the status and significance of the teaching hospital in Japan. In the United States, medical schools and teaching hospitals are independent from each other, but both work together to achieve a mutual objective through clinical educational programmes. On the other hand, medical schools and teaching hospitals in Japan are more integrated, they do research and education as well as practice medicine in same environment. In the past, university hospitals have seen themselves as academic and the physicians in these hospitals have been considered as capable of conducting research. However, the field of research has become more expanded and profound in today's academic hospitals. Considering the difference in the capability of physicians, the number of problems to which clinical education and its orientation is unable to bring solutions is on the increase. It has now become very important to look for help in other academic fields when applying the results of research made to the field of medicine. The organization, therefore, with the necessary human and financial resources to provide training through contribution, to the benefit of patients and through liberal and continuous undertaking of research activities, challenging issues whose outcome are unpredictable, can be truly called an academic hospital.