Abstract
A declining birthrate and aging population have brought about a declining working-age population in Japan. As the working population declines, work style reforms to meet diversifying needs of workers such as redressing long working hours and improving productivity, balancing between childcare / long-term care and work, engaging women and elderly in work, redressing disparities between permanent and non-permanent staff, become more important. These formed the background for the legislation of the Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts to Promote Work Style Reform in 2018. Under this law, a new system that places an upper limit on working hours and the advanced professional system was established in 2019.
However, for physicians, labor regulations are needed that pay particular attention to their special requirements such as the obligation to attend to patients as well as other special circumstances; the regulation of the upper limit on working hours was to be postponed enacted in 2024. In the meantime, specific regulations and efforts to shorten working hours, with the aim of realizing new high-quality medical care and working styles in the medical field, were discussed with the participation of the relevant medical community.
In this article, I would like to outline the discussions of the national panel on Promote Work Style Reform of Physician, summarize the proposed regulation under current discussion, and examine remaining issues to be considered.
