[The neurology training in the United States and Japan]

The practice of neurology, like many other fields of medicine, currently faces a number of critical problems in the United States mostly by cumbersome restrictions designed to contain rapidly escalating medical costs. Fortunately, however, the residency training has maintained the spirit of the time-tested tradition, which has served the medical community well ever since its inception in 1910. The system has continued with little modifications after a switch of internship to Basic Residency Program (PG1) in the late 1960s. In comparison, the neurology training in Japan suffers from following deficiencies: 1) a paucity of bedside teaching in most medical schools, necessitating the initiation of unprepared residents into patient care; 2) an insufficient number of staff, especially at a governmental school, precluding an adequate coverage of neurological subspecialities such as electrophysiology and neuropathology; 3) absence of a tutorialship from senior to junior residents, and from interns to medical students, mostly for the lack of organization and logistics; and 4) no incentive to specialize without board certification by the governmental agencies or proper recognition by insurance providers. We must address these fundamental issues to promote neurology as an independent discipline for improved care of patients with neurological disorders.