We report on the state of postgraduate anesthesiology training (3 months) at Fukui Medical School. This report was based on a questionnaire sent to 144 doctors who had undergone this training. The response rate was 68%.
Participants entered anesthesiology training at a mean of 1.9 ± 1.2 years after graduation. Seventyone trainees (91%) were actively involved in clinical anesthesiology, among which 48 trainees (63%) had experienced between 31 to 60 cases over a 3 month period. Twenty-four trainees (31%) indicated that the training period (3 months) was too short. After such training, 50 doctors (66%) practiced anesthesia, among which 29 encountered difficulties with endotracheal intubation. Sixty-nine trainees (93%) thought the training would be useful for resuscitation. We conclude that anesthesia training is effective at the end of a 2-year postgraduate training course, and recognize the need for improvement in the teaching of anesthesiology.