Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2016 October, 240(2)

Questionnaire-Based Development of an Educational Program of Traditional Japanese Kampo Medicine

SHIN TAKAYAMA,¹ SEIICHI ISHII,² FUMIE TAKAHASHI,² NATSUMI SAITO,¹ RYUTARO ARITA,¹ SOICHIRO KANEKO,¹ MASASHI WATANABE,¹ TETSUHARU KAMIYA,¹ HIDEKAZU WATANABE,¹ HITOSHI NISHIKAWA,¹ YUKA IKENO,¹ JUNICHI TANAKA,¹ MINORU OHSAWA,^1,4 AKIKO KIKUCHI,¹ TAKEHIRO NUMATA,¹ HITOSHI KURODA,¹ MICHIAKI ABE,¹ TAKASHI TAKEDA,³ NOBUO YAEGASHI⁴ and TADASHI ISHII¹

¹Department of Education and Support for Regional Medicine, Department of Kampo Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
²Office of Medical Education, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
³Division of Women's Health, Research Institute of Traditional Asian Medicine, Kinki University School of Medicine, Osaka Sayama, Osaka, Japan
⁴Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

Traditional Japanese Kampo medicine has been widely used in clinical practice in Japan. Though it is a compulsory subject in Japanese medical schools, a standard educational program in Kampo medicine does not exist. Tohoku University has incorporated Kampo medicine into clinical education via didactic lectures since 2003; however, student evaluations have been lower for Kampo than for all other clinical specialties. We administered a questionnaire about a Kampo medicine course for fifth-year students from 2009 to 2012 and developed an educational program based on feedback obtained. The questionnaire consisted of nine questions (a clear training plan; opportunities for learning, practice, and patient contact; acquisition of medical knowledge and physical examination; learning professionalism; understanding the specialty; overall assessment) that were rated on a 5-point Likert scale along with open-ended questions about the course's strengths and weaknesses. The students responded to the questionnaire after clinical practice in Kampo medicine and other clinical specialty courses. Scores for Kampo medicine and the average of other clinical specialties were compared. All 389 students who participated in Kampo clinical practice answered the questionnaire. In 2009, scores for Kampo medicine for nine questions were lower than for the average of the other clinical specialties. After curriculum reformation involving hands-on training in 2012, all scores except “opportunities to learn about clinical cases” and “opportunities to practice involvement” were higher than the average of all other clinical specialties. In conclusion, we have successfully developed a Kampo medicine educational program for our university through this survey study.

keywords —— education; Japan; Kampo medicine; perception; program

© 2016 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2016, 240, 123-130

Correspondence: Shin Takayama, Department of Education and Support for Regional Medicine, Department of Kampo Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8574, Japan.

e-mail: takayama@med.tohoku.ac.jp