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. 2025 Jan;55(1):90-98.
doi: 10.1007/s00595-024-02884-0. Epub 2024 Jun 26.

Current status of the surgical training system in Japan: results of a nationwide questionnaire survey of graduating surgical trainees

Yoshiyuki Kiyasu  1 , Saseem Poudel  2 , Daisuke Koike  3 , Jun Watanabe  4 , Ryosuke Kowatari  5 , Masayuki Fukumoto  6 , Yoshiko Yamaoka-Fujikawa  7 , Yuta Kikuchi  8 , Keisuke Arai  9 , Eisuke Booka  10 , Sonoko Ishida  11 , Shinichiro Yokoyama  12 , Mitsue Saito  13
Affiliations

Current status of the surgical training system in Japan: results of a nationwide questionnaire survey of graduating surgical trainees

Yoshiyuki Kiyasu et al. Surg Today. 2025 Jan.

Abstract

Purpose: To identify the problems trainees face during surgical training in Japan.

Methods: A nationwide online questionnaire survey was conducted targeting newly certified surgical trainees.

Results: The response rate was 53.8% (758/1410). Among those respondents, 25.6% were women, 71.4% were either married or had a partner, 41.3% had children, 72.7% had performed over 200 surgeries under general anesthesia, and 54.1% had chosen, before graduating from medical school, to become a surgeon. While 88.8% were interested in learning surgical techniques, 63.8% were hesitant to become a surgeon for fear of a compromised quality of private life (QOL). Conversely, only 1.4% chose their surgical training programs based on QOL. Overall, 84.6% of the trainees were satisfied with their training and this correlated with the number of surgeries performed. Only 29.9% received non-technical skill training. The average number of night shifts per month was 5.6, and 10.6% worked over 80 h per week. Harassment was reported by 41.5% of the respondents. Moreover, 33.0% had considered dropping out at some time, primarily because of their QOL (51.1%) or the harassment they had encountered (50.4%).

Conclusion: This survey revealed that while trainees were satisfied with the overall training system, issues such as long working hours and harassment are prevalent. Working to improve these issues could make surgery more attractive for young trainees.

Keywords: Nationwide survey; Quality of life; Surgical education; Surgical residency training; Work–life balance.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: We have no conflicts of interest to declare. Ethical approval: This research proposal was approved by the research ethics review committee of the JSS (JSS2023-1).

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Impact of factors that influence becoming a surgeon. Each field indicates a positive, neutral, or negative impact on the choice of becoming a surgeon. The numbers in the fields indicate the number of respondents for each field
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Degree of satisfaction with the training in relation to the number of surgeries performed. The numbers in the fields indicate the number of respondents for each field
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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