[A questionnaire survey of the neurology training program in Japan]

A questionnaire survey was performed in order to see the current trends of the neurology training program in Japan. A questionnaire was sent out to 81 neurology program directors of the medical schools and large hospitals. 72 program directors answered the questionnaires. According to the summed results, each program had an average of 37 inpatient beds, 7 teaching staffs with the neurology board certification. The program had an average of 4 residents annually, and they served as junior neurology residents for 1.8 years, and as chief residents for 1 year with 6 months of hospital consultation. 1.4 years training in the internal medicine was prerequisite for the neurology program. The training of clinical neurophysiology was done mainly by the own faculty staff in each program, but the training of neuroradiology and neuropathology varied. A quarter of the training programs had their own teaching staffs of neuroradiology and the rest of three quarters asked for training to the neuroradiology department. 32 of 72 programs had their own teaching neuropathologists and 26 programs asked the training in the pathology department and 14 programs did not have any teaching staffs of neuropathology. It seems that these numerical data are quite similar to those of the American standard of Accreditation Councils. We must still improve the real contents of the neurology training program with more capable teaching staffs.