Japanese medical school graduates who have just been licensed cannot properly conduct historytaking and physical examination because of inadequate undergraduate clinical practical training. We propose that each medical school should recruit senior physicians in its affiliated teaching hospitals as clinical professors who clinically train medical students in their own hospitals, evaluate the clinical competences of the students, and also participate in improving the undergraduate clinical curriculum of the medical school. The students poorly evaluated by clinical professors should not be allowed to graduate, while the clinical professors are evaluated by students and the medical school for renewal of the professorship.

Among the 55 medical residents who had completed the 2-year postgraduate medical training course at Tenri Hospital in the past 5 years, the postgraduate medical education committee analysed 9 residents whose clinical performance was considered inappropriate. The committee, composed of eight instructors, found that residents with initially poor medical knowledge were able to improve their medical performance and skills during their 2 years of training; however, other residents who lacked responsibility towards patients, communication skills, and medical ethics during training had great difficulty improving or altering their attitude or performance in the 2 years.

Background and Method: To identify the cause of conflicts between medical residents and nurses during daily care practices in a general medicine ward, we observed and conducted interviews with 12 residents in their second postgraduate year. Results: We found three typical situations that are likely to lead to conflicts. 1) Both residents and nurses, especially when they are less experienced, are too occupied with their daily tasks to understand their counterpart's difficulties. 2) Nurses push residents to make quicker decisions beyond their discretion and ability. 3) The medical priority of making a precise diagnosis conflicts with the nursing priority of keeping patients comfortable.