A nationwide cross-sectional survey conducted in 2024 captures workload metrics, hospital presence, and working hours among specialty residents in Japan. Researchers administered a detailed questionnaire structured to evaluate various parameters of physician work style reform.
The Japanese-language survey gathered demographic data including sex, age, postgraduate year (ranging from PGY3 to PGY6 or later), and basic specialty training field. Respondents categorized their weekly working hours and hospital presence into brackets ranging from under 40 hours to 100 hours or more.
- Q1: Sex (Female, Male)
- Q2: Age (25-29 years up to 40 years and older)
- Q3: Postgraduate year (PGY3 through PGY6 or later)
- Q4: Basic specialty training field across numerous disciplines such as internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, and emergency medicine
Working hour metrics specifically accounted for outside work and moonlighting. According to the survey documentation, weekly reported working hours exclude self-directed learning and rest during approved overnight or holiday duty while explicitly including moonlighting. Parallel items measured weekly hospital presence, monthly overnight or on-call duties, and usual work schedules following overnight duty—ranging from a full day off after morning handover to a regular full workday.
The survey also documented training facility characteristics, including hospital identifiers, ownership types (such as public hospitals, national or public university hospitals, and private hospital groupings), and total bed counts spanning from under 200 beds to 1,000 beds or more. Additional items evaluated resident perceptions regarding the progress of physician work style reform at their institutions and its expected effects on healthcare quality and patient safety.
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