Specialist Qualification Program for Physicians Prepared by the Japan Society for Occupational Health

Specialist Qualification Program for Physicians Prepared by the Japan Society for Occupational Health: Toshiteru OKUBO. University of Occupational and Environmental Health—The Japan Society for Occupational Health introduced a new qualification program for occupational physicians in 1992. Qualification is based on an examination and in this examination candidates must undergo the following five different types of evaluations. 1. Written tests 2. Oral examinations 3. Group discussions 4. Presentation 5. Personal interview. Two types of written tests are given to evaluate the knowledge level of the candidates, a short answer test and an essay. The oral examination is given to a group of 4 to 6 candidates. Two examiners are assigned to each group and 10 questions are asked of the candidates in turn. To the same group but with the different examiners assigned, more complicated problems are given in the discussion section. Each candidate is randomly given a subject for personal presentation from a pool of subjects. Three examiners are assigned to each candidate in the personal interview. Sixty percent is the criterion for success. For each of the evaluations other than the written tests, three evaluation categories, namely knowledge, expertise and personal attitude are introduced. Based on these checking points the examiners are requested to give a comprehensive evaluation of each candidate by points with one hundred as the perfect score. If the final evaluation in all three categories is successful, the candidate has passed the examination. Evaluation of this examination has been carried out concerning variation according to examiner, relationship between examination types and impression given by the candidates. (J Occup Health 2001; 43: 295–300)