The impact of Japan's 2004 postgraduate training program on intra-prefectural distribution of pediatricians in Japan.
OBJECTIVE: Inequity in physician distribution poses a challenge to many health systems. In Japan, a new postgraduate training program for all new medical graduates was introduced in 2004, and researchers have argued that this program has increased inequalities in physician distribution. We examined...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2013-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3813669?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1830452206955921408 |
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| author | Rie Sakai Wei Wang Norihiro Yamaguchi Hiroshi Tamura Rei Goto Ichiro Kawachi |
| author_facet | Rie Sakai Wei Wang Norihiro Yamaguchi Hiroshi Tamura Rei Goto Ichiro Kawachi |
| author_sort | Rie Sakai |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | OBJECTIVE: Inequity in physician distribution poses a challenge to many health systems. In Japan, a new postgraduate training program for all new medical graduates was introduced in 2004, and researchers have argued that this program has increased inequalities in physician distribution. We examined the trends in the geographic distribution of pediatricians as well as all physicians from 1996 to 2010 to identify the impact of the launch of the new training program. METHODS: The Gini coefficient was calculated using municipalities as the study unit within each prefecture to assess whether there were significant changes in the intra-prefectural distribution of all physicians and pediatricians before and after the launch of the new training program. The effect of the new program was quantified by estimating the difference in the slope in the time trend of the Gini coefficients before and after 2004 using a linear change-point regression design. We categorized 47 prefectures in Japan into two groups: 1) predominantly urban and 2) others by the definition from OECD to conduct stratified analyses by urban-rural status. RESULTS: The trends in physician distribution worsened after 2004 for all physicians (p value<.0001) and pediatricians (p value = 0.0057). For all physicians, the trends worsened after 2004 both in predominantly urban prefectures (p value = 0.0012) and others (p value<0.0001), whereas, for pediatricians, the distribution worsened in others (p value = 0.0343), but not in predominantly urban prefectures (p value =0.0584). CONCLUSION: The intra-prefectural distribution of physicians worsened after the launch of the new training program, which may reflect the impact of the new postgraduate program. In pediatrics, changes in the Gini trend differed significantly before and after the launch of the new training program in others, but not in predominantly urban prefectures. Further observation is needed to explore how this difference in trends affects the health status of the child population. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T08:45:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-599c6b681adf4999b89e16204883e15b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T08:45:03Z |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-599c6b681adf4999b89e16204883e15b2022-12-21T19:09:50ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032013-01-01810e7704510.1371/journal.pone.0077045The impact of Japan's 2004 postgraduate training program on intra-prefectural distribution of pediatricians in Japan.Rie SakaiWei WangNorihiro YamaguchiHiroshi TamuraRei GotoIchiro KawachiOBJECTIVE: Inequity in physician distribution poses a challenge to many health systems. In Japan, a new postgraduate training program for all new medical graduates was introduced in 2004, and researchers have argued that this program has increased inequalities in physician distribution. We examined the trends in the geographic distribution of pediatricians as well as all physicians from 1996 to 2010 to identify the impact of the launch of the new training program. METHODS: The Gini coefficient was calculated using municipalities as the study unit within each prefecture to assess whether there were significant changes in the intra-prefectural distribution of all physicians and pediatricians before and after the launch of the new training program. The effect of the new program was quantified by estimating the difference in the slope in the time trend of the Gini coefficients before and after 2004 using a linear change-point regression design. We categorized 47 prefectures in Japan into two groups: 1) predominantly urban and 2) others by the definition from OECD to conduct stratified analyses by urban-rural status. RESULTS: The trends in physician distribution worsened after 2004 for all physicians (p value<.0001) and pediatricians (p value = 0.0057). For all physicians, the trends worsened after 2004 both in predominantly urban prefectures (p value = 0.0012) and others (p value<0.0001), whereas, for pediatricians, the distribution worsened in others (p value = 0.0343), but not in predominantly urban prefectures (p value =0.0584). CONCLUSION: The intra-prefectural distribution of physicians worsened after the launch of the new training program, which may reflect the impact of the new postgraduate program. In pediatrics, changes in the Gini trend differed significantly before and after the launch of the new training program in others, but not in predominantly urban prefectures. Further observation is needed to explore how this difference in trends affects the health status of the child population.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3813669?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Rie Sakai Wei Wang Norihiro Yamaguchi Hiroshi Tamura Rei Goto Ichiro Kawachi The impact of Japan's 2004 postgraduate training program on intra-prefectural distribution of pediatricians in Japan. PLoS ONE |
| title | The impact of Japan's 2004 postgraduate training program on intra-prefectural distribution of pediatricians in Japan. |
| title_full | The impact of Japan's 2004 postgraduate training program on intra-prefectural distribution of pediatricians in Japan. |
| title_fullStr | The impact of Japan's 2004 postgraduate training program on intra-prefectural distribution of pediatricians in Japan. |
| title_full_unstemmed | The impact of Japan's 2004 postgraduate training program on intra-prefectural distribution of pediatricians in Japan. |
| title_short | The impact of Japan's 2004 postgraduate training program on intra-prefectural distribution of pediatricians in Japan. |
| title_sort | impact of japan s 2004 postgraduate training program on intra prefectural distribution of pediatricians in japan |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3813669?pdf=render |
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