[Postgraduate training and specialty certification systems in pediatric surgery in Japan]

Board-certified pediatric surgeons and instructors less than 65 years old in Japan total 244 and 211, respectively. Board-certified general surgeons wishing to become board-certified pediatric surgeons must be able to perform an additional 150 pediatric surgical procedures. In addition, board-certified pediatric surgeons wishing to maintain board certification must perform 100 pediatric surgeries in each 5-year period. While the number of children is decreasing gradually, people living in both metropolitan and rural areas require increasing numbers of pediatricians and pediatric surgeons, necessitating a reform of the system for pediatric emergent care. Because of the low number of pediatric surgeries performed, young pediatric surgeons need to share surgical opportunities. Board-certified instructors should discuss how to teach young pediatric surgeons in university and children's hospitals, dispatch them to suburban and rural clinical hospitals, and help them maintain a good quality of life in busy hospitals. Postgraduate training and specialty certification systems in pediatric surgery for the near future are described.