Abstract
Some doctors change specialty from cardiac surgery to cardiology or peripheral vascular surgery or practice general medicine before retirement age. We carried out a survey to investigate their working conditions and reasons for changing their specialty. We sent questionnaires by mail to 154 doctors of whom 56 (36%) answered. The most common reason for changing specialty was taking over their family's practice, and the second most common reason was a small income. Actually, the annual income of 41 doctors increased after changing from cardiac surgery (75%). Many cardiac surgeons have to work with a years lest self-sacrifice and unpaid overtime work. Of the respordents 65% could not renew their Japanese Board of Cardiovascular Surgery, because of their limited operative numbers. If the current condition continues, the number of cardiac surgeons in Japan will decrease. It is necessary to improve working conditions and the environment so that surgeons can concentrate more on operations.
