Human Resources for Health
Physician workforce imbalances in Japan: how structural incentives shape hospital-based acute-care capacity
Abstract Japan's physician workforce problem in hospital-based high-intensity care is better understood as an interaction between distribution and retention than as a simple question of national physician headcount. This Comment examines three pathways that can reduce hospital service capacity: working conditions that impede entry and career continuity in high-intensity specialties; early movement from initial residency into cosmetic medicine, known as choku-bi; and later movement from hospital employment to clinic …