[Survey on the actual condition of psychiatrists and psychiatric services in Japan. (Part 1): Basic data on number and distribution of psychiatrists].

BACKGROUND

To ensure that psychiatric services adequately meet the needs of the Japanese people, planning a prospective design based on a needs analysis is required. Presently, the distribution of medical resources in Japan is skewed and the priorities of psychiatric services are unclear.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the current status of psychiatric services.

METHOD

The definition of a psychiatrist was determined by qualified specialists of the Japanese Society for Psychiatry and Neurology (JSPN). Of the 11,169 candidates who applied for the specialist psychiatry examination, 246 were excluded due to a lack of personal information and 4 due to refusal. The remaining 10,919 agreed to allow the verification of their personal data. This study was conducted with the approval of the JSPN. The total number of psychiatrists, their demographic backgrounds, the number of psychiatrists by prefecture, and the number of psychiatrists in each secondary medical care block in Japan were calculated.

RESULTS

Of the 10,919 psychiatrists included in this analysis, 2,124 were female and 8,790 were male. Approximately 90% were < 65 years old, and 42% were < 45 years old. Their primary work places were as follows: psychiatric hospitals (n = 5,233, 47.9%); university departments of psychiatry (n=1,353, 12.4%); general hospitals (n = 1,064, 9.7%); psychiatric clinics (n = 2,456, 22.5%); nonpsychiatric clinics (n = 687, 6.3%); and nonclinical work places such as basic science departments (n = 124, 1.1%). The number of psychiatrists per 100,000 inhabitants in each prefecture was determined. The highest numbers of psychiatrists were from Kochi (13.20), Tokyo (12.76), and Tokushima (12.24), and the lowest numbers were from Ibaraki (5.34), Aomori (5.36), and Saitama (5.67). The number of psychiatrists per 100,000 inhabitants in Kochi was 1.48 per area (100 km square), and Tokyo showed the highest at 75.99 psychiatrists per area, followed by Osaka and Kanagawa. The five Tohoku prefectures and Hokkaido had the fewest psychiatrists per area.

CONCLUSION

For planning the future management of psychiatric services, continuous investigation of the actual number of psychiatrists and the status of psychiatric services in Japan is required with the constant cooperation of the JSPN.