Juntendo University International Center December 2, 2014

The 5th

Asian Pacific Medical Forum

Juntendo University held the 5th Asian Pacific Medi-

cal Forum (APMF) on December 2, 2014 at Juntendo

University Ariyama Noboru Memorial Hall. The forum

revolved around the Joint Commission International (JCI)

and the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME).

The JCI is an accreditation commission established to stan-

dardized international health care practices to ensure pa-

tient safety. The WFME, in collaboration with six Regional

Associations for Medical Education, accredits medical

schools to promote medical education standards. Juntendo

University is currently preparing to apply for accreditation

from both the JCI and WFME. Over 230 people joined the

event, including students, residents, doctors, nurses, and

hospital and university staff.

Juntendo University CEO OGAWA Hideoki provided

the forum’s opening remarks, emphasizing that both forms

of standardization provide the opportunity to improve the

systems in the hospital and medical school.

JUIC Deputy President TOMINO Yasuhiko chaired

the lecture section of the forum, which included lectures

about the JCI by St. Luke’s International Hospital Medical

Information Center Director and General Surgery Deputy

Head Physician SHIMADA Gen and the WFME by Junten-

Juntendo University CEO OGAWA Hideoki during the opening remarks of the 5th APMF.

With lectures and a panel discussions on the Joint Commission International (JCI) and World Federation for Medical Education (WFME).

St. Luke’s International Hospital Medical Information Center Direc-

tor SHIMADA Gen during his lecture about the JCI.

do University Department of Medical Education Professor

TAKEDA Yuko.

The first lecture of the forum, by Director SHIMADA

focused on the need for international medical standards,

the evaluation methods used by the JCI, and the ways to

improve within the context of the standards set by the JCI.

Director SHIMADA played an integral role in helping St.

Luke’s International Hospital receive accreditation from

the JCI and shared his first hand experience. He empha-

sized having written rules in place for everything the JCI

requires, keeping records of everything, creating a system

that enables the efficient access to information, and com-

municating the JCI’s standards to everyone involved.

The lecture by Professor TAKEDA explained WFME’s

background and the best way to sustain the WFME stan-

dards. Professor TAKEDA’s experience in accredited

universities overseas showed her that universities must

establish an internal process to consistently deal with the

WFME standards even after receiving the initial accred-

itation. The process must include student evaluations,

databases, and data analysis, resulting in improvements to

the quality of medical education, enabling the university to

adapt to changes that occur in medical education.

Juntendo University Hospital Director DAIDA Hiroyu-

ki and Pediatric General and Urogenital Surgery Profes-

sor YAMATAKA Atsuyuki chaired the panel discussion.

Juntendo University Senior Associate Professor NAITO

Toshio, Juntendo University Hospital Office Deputy Gener-

al Manager IDA Toyotaro, Tokyo Medical and Dental Uni-

versity Research Center for Medical and Dental Sciences

Director NARA Nobuo, Juntendo University Department

of Pediatrics Professor SHIMIZU Toshiaki, and both lec-

turers made up the panel discussion.

Panelists were able to discuss more details about both

the JCI and WFME as well as areas Juntendo University

needs to spend more time on going forward.

Senior Associate Professor NAITO stressed that every-

one in the hospital needs to have a unified outlook towards

the requirements enforced by JCI. General Manager IDA

reiterated the point saying that going forward the hospital

must establish a culture based off of the standards set by

the JCI.

For the medical school to receive accreditation, Profes-

sor SHIMIZU mentioned teacher’s training as being crit-

ical in guaranteeing supervisors are able to teach students

the skills they need. Director NARA Nobuo added that

implementation of international medical education stan-

Juntendo University Department of Medical Education Professor

TAKEDA Yuko during her lecture about the WFME.

The panel discussion of the section of the 5th APMF.

dards provides a great opportunity to raise the standard

of Japanese medical education, particularly the residency

program.

The panel discussion also allowed for more discussion

about the how both forms of standardization contrast each

other. One of the main differences between the two is JCI’s

quantitative standards, consisting of precisely detailed

measurable elements, compared to the more qualitative

standards used by the WFME. As The University of Tokyo

International Research Center for Medical Education Pro-

fessor KITAMURA Kiyoshi, who was in attendance, point-

ed out, the medical education accreditation process asks

questions relating to the personalty of the university, such

as, “Why is your university necessary? What does your

university do that others cannot?” Questions that each

medical school will answer differently. By realizing the

goals of both forms of standardization Juntendo will ensure

even greater levels of patient care and medical education.

Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine Dean and for-

mer Juntendo University Hospital Director ARAI Hajime

stated that the hospital will be the first to attempt to receive

international accreditation followed by the medical school.

Juntendo University President KOMINAMI Eiki con-

cluded by saying that going forward for the hospital and

medical school to receive international accreditation ev-

eryone, from faculty to staff to students, will need to work

together to make the goal possible.