Effects of the Japanese medical office system on innovation creation among medical doctors: A survey of cardiologists in acute care settings

In the Japanese medical office system, medical doctors are dispatched from university medical offices to affiliated hospitals. In the present study, the effects of Japan’s unique medical office system on innovation creation among medical doctors were examined. A questionnaire survey was administered to 150 cardiologists between 7 and 30 June 2023; results showed that 109 (73.0%) participants were affiliated with the medical office system and 41 (27.0%) were not. From the literature, the following categories of elements of creativity were extracted: personality, cognitive processes, competence/intelligence, motivation, work environment/management, social networks and entrepreneurial orientation. Analysis of these categories identified five types of factors influencing creativity: knowledge-seeking attitude, challenging work environment, intrinsic motivation promotion, diversity preference and self-help. Linear regression analysis showed that creativity increased with age (beta, 0.274 [95% confidence interval, 0.084–0.464]; p = 0.005) but was unaffected by all other factors. Thus, the study found that the medical office system did not have a negative impact on the creativity (i.e. innovation creation) of individual medical doctors; however, this system may delay the age at which these doctors can demonstrate their creativity.