On February 2025, 2, Tokyo Medical University (Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo) and Okinawa Prefectural Chubu Hospital (Uruma City, Okinawa Prefecture) signed a comprehensive collaboration agreement. The agreement aims to strengthen the human resource development system by realizing the high-quality clinical training and international standard medical education practiced by Okinawa Prefectural Chubu Hospital, as well as creating learning opportunities based on primary care that has been cultivated for many years through the training of doctors who will be responsible for medical care on remote islands.
Okinawa Prefectural Chubu Hospital partnered with the University of Hawaii in 1967, under US rule, and introduced a pioneering on-the-job training (on-the-job training) clinical training program in Japan. The training program, which trains doctors in a variety of medical departments and develops the skills required of all doctors, became the model for the post-graduate clinical training system for doctors that was introduced in Japan in 2004. The educational system puts the trainees at the forefront, and diagnoses and treatment plans are decided through thorough discussion between the supervising doctor and the trainee (peer review) based on the findings of medical interviews and physical examinations, allowing trainees to gain high clinical reasoning skills and experience as general clinical physicians.
Tokyo Medical University aims to build a "holistic medical education curriculum that emphasizes clinical training" by utilizing local medical institutions and home medical institutions as educational resources, in addition to its affiliated hospitals that handle advanced cutting-edge medical care. By collaborating with Okinawa Prefectural Chubu Hospital and introducing its educational system, the university has concluded an agreement with the aim of promoting the development of even higher-level human resources, by training "doctors with high levels of expertise on a foundation of comprehensive medical care capabilities."
Tokyo Medical University President Keisuke Miyazawa commented on the agreement, "Okinawa Prefectural Chubu Hospital was one of the first in the country to introduce American-style medical education, and its educational policy that emphasizes the medical interview and physical examination (H&P) is unique in that it has permeated the entire hospital, transcending the boundaries of different medical departments. At the beginning of the conference, we deliberately do not present any test data or images, but instead have a logical and thorough discussion about how close we can get to a definitive diagnosis using H&P alone. This allows the trainees to acquire high levels of diagnostic ability. I myself participated in this conference and was deeply impressed that this was the kind of education I want to provide to the students of our university."
Through this agreement, Okinawa Prefectural Chubu Hospital expects to make maximum use of Tokyo Medical University's research and educational resources, thereby further enhancing its clinical research and supporting the careers of its staff, including disseminating high-quality clinical research to the international community using big data accumulated in Okinawa Prefecture regional and remote island medical care, giving back to the local community advanced medical care based on clinical research, and developing careers by obtaining a degree (PhD) from Tokyo Medical University.
