Generalism-Continuing Medical Education Committee

American College of Physicians Japan Chapter Interim Report 2020

Chair: Teruhisa Azuma

1. REPORT (What We have done)

We defined general mind and “genespelist” as follows respectively in 2019.

- 1. General mind: An attitude of physicians to continue to learn and practice the knowledge and skills of all fields toward the patients’ health issues apart from their specialities.
  2. Genespelist: A specialist who can practice medical care with general mind mentioned above.

In 2020, we conducted the following activities based on the concept mentioned before.

- 1. We eternalized our thoughts concerning “genespelist”, respectively
  2. We summarized the concept and practices as a graphic record named as “the skill up for generalist through collaboration with specialist”, for generalists to collaborate with specialists.

2. PLAN (What We are going to do)

- We will organize the corresponding workshop entitled as “The Genespelist Course for Specialist” in the ACP-JC 2021, which was being held in 2020.
- We will hold the case conference and/or workshop using products mentioned above.
- We will brush up the questionnaire on practicing with the general mind and conduct another survey targeting senior residents and young specialists (within PGY10) of each department.
- We are planning activities illuminating the value of genespelists by combining work style reform in Japan and practicing medical care with general mind.

December 2, 2020

The 6th RFC seminar – GIM x Infectious Diseases –

Toshiro Goto, MD
Nerima Hikarigaoka Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

The Resident Fellow Committee (RFC) of the American College of Physicians (ACP) Japan Chapter held the 6th RFC Seminar on Saturday, November 21, 2020. This seminar is held twice a year and aims to improve young physicians’ clinical skills through lectures by experts in various internal medicine fields, and the “Bullet Diagnosis Dojo” which uses ACP’s lifelong learning material, the MKSAP. The theme of this year’s workshop was “GIM x Infectious Diseases”. We invited Dr. Harumi Yano (Professor of Infectious Diseases, International University of Health and Welfare, School of Medicine) and Dr. Mikiro Kato (Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Tsukuba, School of Medicine) to join us for a very productive workshop. Although this was our first time to holding the seminar online due to COVID-19, we received over 100 participants across the country, including eager medical students, young doctors, and veteran doctors. The seminar was a great success, with many engaging questions and discussions taking place in the chat room.

The event began with a message-driven case review session featuring guest lecturer Dr. Kato, on a Nigerian patient presenting with diarrhea. The intriguing case reminded us the necessity of returning to the basic principle of infectious disease treatment whenever we encounter complex cases, which is to perform culture and determine drug susceptibility. In the second session by Dr. Yano on antimicrobial agents, Dr. Yano reiterated the importance of linking pathology, microorganisms, and antimicrobial agents to each other. We learned to take a thorough history, understand the entire clinical course, make a wide range of distinctions, and select the appropriate antimicrobial agents for a given microorganism. At the “Bullet Diagnosis Dojo,” we presented a series of four case questions based on the famous ACP’s official question book MKSAP. Participants received educational comments and tips on each question, which deepened their understanding on infectious disease medicine.

RFC will continue to organize events where young doctors and medical students can learn medical knowledge and techniques useful for tomorrow’s clinical practice that will help them achieve a higher level of excellence. We will also continue to strive to be a platform for those who wish to gain clinical experience abroad. If you are interested, please consider joining us.

November 29, 2020

Governor’s Message

Winter is approaching and the days are getting shorter. It is time to review this year and think about the next one.

It is regrettable that we had to give up the annual chapter meeting (Kyoto) in June due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was a pity too that the IM meeting 2020 (LA) in April was cancelled and the fall meeting of Board of Governors (Savannah, GA) in October was changed to a virtual meeting.

I am thankful for our chapter members who have dedicated themselves to their patients and the society in the difficult time of pandemic. I am also thankful for our advisory council and committees who have been busy with the work of our chapter.

I’d like to take the opportunity to congratulate Keijiro Saku, MD, MACP, on his election to Mastership in the College. Dr. Saku, the President of Fukuoka University, was a person of distinguished service in the beginning period of our chapter.

Also congratulations to the new fellows for 2020: Tadashi Matsumura (March), Kazuaki Jindai, Takashi Matono (July), Tomohito Gohda, Mitsushige Nishimura, Eiichiro Sando, Kazutomo Sawai, Ryoma Tanaka, Ryusuke Yoshimi, Yuki Kataoka (September), Naoko Iwasaki, Yoshitsugu Obi, Kazuhiro Takahashi, and Yoshitaka Tomoda (November). Congratulations to all! Dr. Naoko Iwasaki was elected directly upon nomination by the Governor with a help from Women’s Committee (chair: Noriko Yamamoto) in response to a new College initiative to appropriately recognize outstanding women members.

In closing – I am amazed at what we can do with technology, such as meetings through Zoom and other platforms. There are so many events with this technology in 2021. In February, the first Asian chapters’ conference in virtual style, the Asian ACPCON 2021, will be hosted by India chapter. The IM meeting 2021 during April 29^th to May 1^st will go virtual too, and we are also planning to hold a hybrid or virtual chapter meeting in June. So please stay tuned!

Please feel free to contact us if you have questions or suggestions. I wish you a peaceful holiday season.

Yours,

Kenji Maeda

August 30, 2020

Governor’s Message

暑かった夏が終わろうとしています。これから秋に向けてcovid-19の流行がどうなっていくのか、まだまだ予断を許さない状況が続きそうです。

さて、来春の支部総会につき皆様にアンケートでお尋ねした通り、来年は通常通りの総会開催は難しく、「新しい日常」での開催にならざるを得ません。まだ詳細は決まっておらず、これからアンケートの結果も参考にしながらＳＰＣの先生方を中心に決めていくことになりますが、当然インターネットを活用した形になる筈です。Face-to-faceでお会いできないという不利な点はありますが、逆に遠距離のために参加が難しかった先生方が参加しやすくなる、旅費や滞在費がかからないというメリットもありますので、前向きにとらえて行きたいと思います。

また、首都圏以外の地方にお住まいで、これまであまり支部の活動にご参加いただけなかったFACPの皆様にも支部の活動の一部をお手伝いして頂けないかと構想を練っている最中です。いずれ詳細を発表できると思いますが、その際は是非ともお力をお貸しください。

皆様のご健康と安全、ご多幸をお祈りしつつ。

2020年夏　前田賢司

July 7, 2020