Academic Start-Up Support Using Tele-Education Improved Self Esteem of a Rural General Physician

One of the factors for rural physicians to continue their rural practices is continuing professional development (CPD) [1]. In Japan, academic training has been reported to be the most common type of CPD, followed in descending order by participation in academic meetings, academic activities including doctor of philosophy programs [2]. The use of tele-education (remote-support systems using information and communication technology (ICT) in medical education) has many advantages (e.g., travel costs and time [1]), and is rapidly developing. However, tele-education has not been available in many rural regions until recently because of insufficient communication infrastructure. In addition, no reports have described academic start-up support using tele-education “based on rural physicians’ values, ways of life and self-esteem”. We aimed to investigate the effects related to rural physicians’ self-esteem and CPD of first-time academic activities using tele-education by a general physician belonging to general medicine department of a university.