2020 Volume 36 Issue 3 Pages 232-238
Background: Role of specialist of pediatric critical care is significant, especially for management of congenital heart diseases because most critical cardiac patients have been cared by pediatric cardiologists or cardiovascular surgeons in Japan.
Objects: To clarify future issues in the field of critical care in pediatric cardiology by investigating current situation of board certification and medical insurance in Japan.
Methods: In this study, we investigated relationship between board certification and situation of training centers for the board-certified intensivist with pediatric cardiologists, pediatric cardiac surgeons and pediatricians in Japan from databases of official registration in the website.
Results: Only 0.6％ of board-certified pediatricians and 1.1％ of board-certified pediatric cardiologists obtained board-certified intensivist. Certification of training center is 56％ in all pediatric cardiac hospitals and their training systems is not appropriate for pediatricians because of lack of pediatric intensive care units especially in most university hospitals or general hospitals. There is a gap between cities and regional area in the number of board-certified pediatricians with board certified intensivists.
Conclusions: Significant gaps of board certification and medical insurance are recognized among regional areas in Japan requiring improvement of system and current situation in the field of critical care of pediatric cardiology.
