Effects of the Japanese medical office system on innovation creation among medical doctors: A survey of cardiologists in acute care settings

ABSTRACT

In the Japanese medical office system, medical doctors are dispatched from university medical offices to affiliated hospitals. In the present study, the effects of Japan’s unique medical office system on innovation creation among medical doctors were examined. A questionnaire survey was administered to 150 cardiologists between 7 and 30 June 2023; results showed that 109 (73.0%) participants were affiliated with the medical office system and 41 (27.0%) were not. From the literature, the following categories of elements of creativity were extracted: personality, cognitive processes, competence/intelligence, motivation, work environment/management, social networks and entrepreneurial orientation. Analysis of these categories identified five types of factors influencing creativity: knowledge-seeking attitude, challenging work environment, intrinsic motivation promotion, diversity preference and self-help. Linear regression analysis showed that creativity increased with age (beta, 0.274 [95% confidence interval, 0.084–0.464]; p = 0.005) but was unaffected by all other factors. Thus, the study found that the medical office system did not have a negative impact on the creativity (i.e. innovation creation) of individual medical doctors; however, this system may delay the age at which these doctors can demonstrate their creativity.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Bureaucratic system
• creativity
• innovation
• medical office system
• membership-based employment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Satoru Hashimoto

Satoru Hashimoto BS, MBA after a consistent career in sales and marketing in the cardiovascular intervention field, founded TCROSS Co., Ltd, in 2005. He received his MBA from the Graduate School of Management, Globis University, in 2021. Hashimoto is currently studying medical innovation in a doctoral program at Chuo University.

Yoshihiro Motozawa

Yoshihiro Motozawa MD, PhD after graduating from the University of Tokyo, School of Medicine, he began his clinical career as a cardiologist. He then went on to obtain his Ph.D. in Medicine from the University of Tokyo. He currently works at hospital as a clinician while working as a business consultant in TCROSS Co., Ltd.

Toshiki Mano

Toshiki Mano MD, PhD After gaining clinical experience as a diabetes physician, Prof. Mano studied at Cornell University Medical School as a research fellow. He later earned an MBA from the University of Leicester Graduate School of Medicine in the UK while working in the management for a pharmaceutical company. Prof. Mano also holds a PhD in economics from Kyoto University.