Impact of Doctors’ Work Style Reforms on Regional Medicine (Abdominal Surgery) (From the Standpoint of Regional Medical Centers)

Abstract

From April 2024, an upper limit on overtime and holiday work for doctors has been mandated. So far, the unwritten rule has been that “a surgeon who can work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year = a good surgeon,” and while it was advantageous for patients, reform was necessary. Our hospital is a regional core hospital (310 beds) in the southern part of Miyagi Prefecture and in. Our hospital has 1 city and 3 towns (serving a population about 100,000 people) as the management organization and opened in 2002. Due to changes in the medical situation in the south of Miyagi prefecture, it is the only acute care hospital in the South Miyagi Medical Area (target population, 170,000). The number of full-time doctors has also increased. In 2002, there were 22 medical doctors including four surgeons, but now there are 108 doctors. The number of surgeons has also increased to 10. In 2023, there were 793 surgical procedures and 222 surgical emergencies. Possible strategies to respond to the reform of doctors’ work styles include consolidation of doctors (consolidation of hospitals), division of hospital functions, and improvement of the efficiency of the medical care system (shortening waiting times for surgeries and examinations). It is not enough for hospitals to work alone, and since most core hospitals in rural areas are public hospitals, the cooperation of local governments is indispensable.