The Education and Service Gap

　　There is a huge gap between nursing education and nursing services in Japan. This problem is also an issue in other countries and has been discussed for a long time in the nursing field.

    To be a nurse in Japan, at least three years of nursing education is required after high school. This education system seems to be behind in comparison to other developed countries; some of these countries require a degree in nursing to be a registered nurse. The number of practice hours for nursing education in Japan has been decreased from 3,827 hours in 1951 to 1,035 hours in 1995. This decrease is despite an increase in the total required credits and book knowledge subjects required, as well as significant medical advances. Given the reduction in time nursing students cannot be allowed to practice all nursing skills from a viewpoint of patients' safety. They can only deliver basic nursing skills such as bed making, taking temperatures and blood pressure.

    For these reasons, nursing students do not have sufficient training hours, nor deliver the nursing skills required in their future workplaces. According to a survey conducted by the Japanese Nursing Association (JNA), there are only four or five basic nursing skills out of over one hundred which new graduates can practice confidently.

    In facilities, new graduates who have just obtained a nursing license are expected to deliver a full range of nursing services and are responsible for their practice. However, in some workplaces skilled nurses do not have enough time to teach them these skills because of a lack of staff or heavy workload. Medical developments generate this education and service gap. In addition to these challenges, newly employed nurses have to get used to new environment, form relationships and adjust to a shift work schedule.

    The average turnover rate of new graduates within the first year is about eight percent. The main reason for this is the education and service gap. Some of the people who choose to leave their job do not work as a nurse anymore. According to the survey implemented by JNA, there are an estimated 550,000 nurses who do not work as a nurse.

    In Japan the demand for medical care, including nursing care, will be increasing because of the aging population. To meet this demand, an improvement of nursing education such as education term, curricula and training conditions in nursing schools, as well as workplaces, is required.