Future Research in General Medicine Has Diverse Topics and is Highly Promising: Opinions Based on a Questionnaire Survey

Abstract

Masaki Tago,1 Risa Hirata,1 Takashi Watari,2 Kiyoshi Shikino,3 Yosuke Sasaki,4 Hiromizu Takahashi,5 Taro Shimizu6 1Department of General Medicine, Saga University Hospital, Saga, Japan; 2General Medicine Center, Shimane University Hospital, Shimane, Japan; 3Department of General Medicine, Chiba University Hospital, Chiba, Japan; 4Department of General Medicine and Emergency Care, Toho University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan; 5Department of General Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan; 6Department of Diagnostic and Generalist Medicine, Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, JapanCorrespondence: Masaki Tago, Department of General Medicine, Saga University Hospital, 5-1-1 Nabeshima, Saga, 849-8501, Japan, Tel [phone], Fax [phone], Email [email protected]: In Japan, general medicine is still relatively new as a specialty, having been established in 2018 as the 19th primary specialty. The relevant research field has therefore not been fully established yet, and the detailed research areas in this field have not been identified. We conducted a descriptive questionnaire-based web survey of members of the Japanese Society of Hospital General Medicine. Respondents were asked to highlight their research topics from the following categories: diagnostic excellence, design (problem-solving and thinking methodology), symptomatology, physical examination, clinical epidemiology, home and community medicine, general medicine education, organizational management, hospital administration, and “none of the above (add description of your work if desired)”. The respondents could choose multiple topics. There were 276 respondents (14% response rate), of whom 240 (86.9%) were male, 103 (37.3%) worked at universities, and 232 (84.1%) had previous research experience. Diagnostic excellence was the most common research topic category among generalists (n=87, 21.3%), followed by clinical epidemiology (n=83, 20.3%), symptomatology (n=41, 10.0%), home and community medicine (n=39, 9.6%), and general medicine education (n=36, 8.8%). Seventy-eight respondents (19.1%) chose “none of the above (add description of your work if desired)”. The main research topics were in areas fundamental to diagnostic excellence, ie, diagnostics, diagnostic error, clinical epidemiology, and symptomatology. Home and community medicine and general medicine education were also included as research topics because of their diverse roles. The research interests of generalists are therefore diverse, and new areas and frameworks are likely to be created in the future.Keywords: clinical research, diagnostic excellence, general medicine, medical education, research topic

Keywords

• clinical research
• diagnostic excellence
• general medicine
• medical education
• research topic