Objective: Medical education was initiated in 2012 as part of health and physical education (HPE) in junior high schools.  This new measure was a result of a revision of school curriculum guidelines.  In this study, we aimed to clarify the implementation status of medical education in schools.
Methods: A questionnaire survey targeting junior high school teachers in Gifu (from 184 junior high schools) was conducted by mail.
Results: 60.9% of schools responded (112/184).  HPE teachers and school pharmacists were found to be in charge of providing medical education in 94.6% and 10.7% of schools, respectively.  The average duration of classes was 50 min and the average frequency was 1.2 times a week.  On average, 0.9% of schools stated that implementing medical education was “under contemplation,” 2.7% held “occasional” classes, and 2.7% only held “drug abuse-related” classes.  It was also found that the most commonly used educational material was the school textbook (91.1% of schools).  Additionally, 87.5% of schools responded “yes” to “lectures are delivered by outside lecturers,” and 69.6% responded “yes” to “we hope to introduce workshop participation.”
Conclusion: The results of the survey indicated that many junior high schools have provided medical education classes and that HPE teachers were in charge of teaching these classes.  However, some schools have not provided these classes.  It is considered necessary to enhance medical education activities in the pharmaceutical field by involving specialists from different areas.