1)Our Clinical Simulation Laboratory (CSL) registered 19,085 training attendances with nurses accounting for the majority of trainees in first three years. Basic Life Support training experienced the highest demand.
2)CSL usage rose markedly in both spring and fall, showing three daily peaks (9 am, 10 am and 5 pm), and lasted for an average of one and a half hours per session.
3)The lending rate of the simulators to areas outside CSL came to about half of the internal use rate. The current simulator–based training program requires improvement to increase attendance by medical students and doctors.

Medical students at Kurume University begin practical training in clinical skills in their fourth year. At that time, students use the skills laboratory to improve their clinical skills. Medical education resources in the skills laboratory include simulators for emergency resuscitation and heart diseases, wireless stethoscopes, and videotapes. All students use the skills laboratory for 2 months, and its usefulness was evaluated with questionnaires after practical training. More than 50 % of students approved of their practice in the skills laboratory. However, some students were unsatisfied because they were unable to make effective use of the simulators. In the future, an improved skills laboratory will be necessary to improve practical training in the clinical skills for medical students.

We analyzed the scores of objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) and written examinations administered to fourth-year medical students after practical training in clinical skills and to fifth-year medical students after clinical training and scores of graduation examinations taken by sixth-year medical students. Correlations were analyzed among the scores of 96 students who had taken all 3 examinations during a 3-year period. Mean scores on examinations in the fourth, fifth, and sixth years were compared between sixth-year students who did or did not graduate and between graduating students who did or did not pass the national examination for medical practitioners in Japan. Significant correlations in the scores were found between 1) OSCEs and written examinations for fourth-year students versus those for the fifth-year students; 2) OSCE and written examinations for fourth-year students versus graduation examination scores for the sixth-year students; and 3) OSCE and written examinations for fifth-year students versus graduation examination scores for sixth-year students. In addition, the mean scores in the fourth and fifth years were significantly higher for sixth-year students who graduated and passed the national examination than for students who did not graduate or who graduated but failed the national examination. These results suggest that the practical training in clinical skills given to fourth-year students and the clinical training given to fifth-year students strongly affect the overall evaluation of the ability of sixth-year students and success on the national examination.

Objective: To analyze participants’ opinions regarding the content of clinical training workshops for attending physicians.　Method: A total of 225 people participants in the workshops (approximately 17 hours in 2 days) that were held between 2013 and 2016. We provided the following training sessions: (1) Kawakita Jiro Method (KJ), (2) Process of clinical training, (3) Training program planning procedure, (4) Training objectives, (5) Classification of objectives, (6) Professionalism (PF), (7) 6 Microskills (6MS), (8) Significant event analysis (SEA), (9) Training strategies, (10) Coaching, (11) Educational evaluation, (12) Clinical training systems (CTS), and (13) Roles of attending physicians (RAP). We only used the results of questionnaires obtained from participants who consented to the investigation, and reviewed them for (1) training proficiency, (2) session interest, and (3) course evaluation.　Results: Training sessions showing high proficiency were KJ, RAP, and CTS, and those indicating low proficiency were educational objectives, SEA, and PF. Training sessions that were of great interest were 6MS, Coaching, and KJ.　Conclusion: In the evaluation of the entire course, overall value scored the highest, followed by significance of future participation and applicability of content. Overall, the participants felt that the time for the training course was a little long and that the difficulty level was somewhat high.