The aim of this study is to clarify which educational style, self-directed learning (SDL) or the traditional style of listening to lectures, is more effective in physiatry education for residents under the Japanese new residency program. Participants were 15 residents. Eight residents from the lecture group completed 7 lectures on the basics of physiatry (total 420 minutes). Seven residents from the SDL group chose their learning objective by themselves and we then facilitated their learning with 3 sessions (total 160 minutes). Outcomes, including their subjective understanding of physiatry and interest in it, were measured by a brief questionnaire. The SDL group showed more favorable development in understanding and more interest in physiatry than the lecture group. This result demonstrates that the individuality, flexibility and mutuality provided by SDL may encourage residents to learn physiatry more effectively.

1) The concept of interprofessionality, i. e., cohesive and cooperative practice between professionals, is necessary in North America because health professionals specializing in various fields work together on medical services.
2) To introduce the concept of interprofessionality, interprofessional education, in which many kinds of health profes-sionals or students learn together, is extremely important. The Canadian government has been promoting and generously subsidizing interprofessional education as a way of improving public health and emphasizing patient-cen-tered medicine.
3) In 2006, the University of Toronto established a new certificate course for future educational leaders who promote in-terprofessional education. We participated in this course and recommend that a course of this type be introduced toJapan.