The Gifu University Medical Education Center (MEDC) and Jichi Medical University (Tochigi Prefecture) co-sponsored the 70th Medical Education Seminar & Workshop at Jichi Medical University. It was attended by 152 people coming from across the country including teaching staff and local citizens. Eight workshops and seminars were held during this event.

In the workshop, the participants exchanged their views on the following topics:

- Regional medical education

- Measures for next-generation examination

- Educational collaboration among people with different occupations

- Simulated patient practice

- Medical education research technology

- Reinforcing diagnostic skills

- Nursing practice, and

- Creation and use of e-learning materials

Thirty teaching and medical staff attended the session for "use of whodunit game for educational collaboration among people with different occupations." In this game, they were divided into groups of five and experienced problem-solving. Later, they made presentations on case studies of individual universities, methods of introduction, challenges and solutions pertaining to educational collaboration. People were impressed with the novelty and benefits of the new approach for collaboration.

Professor Masatoshi Matumoto from the School of Medicine, Hiroshima University was invited to be a guest speaker. He spoke about the regional medicine under the theme of "Challenges of regional medical education from data analyses." He referred to the status of regional medicine, the background of uneven distribution of doctors, rates of Jichi Medical University graduates' execution of their medical obligations at their assigned hospitals (the university was established in 1972 to provide highly-skilled medical care in remote areas of Japan where medical aid is limited), as well as data on major trends of university enrollees by regions. He underscored the importance of development and improvement of educational contents rather than enhancement of systems or policy development led by the government.

After his speech, he took questions from the audience, and shared their views on how to provide students with quality regional medical education for the future. The participants reaffirmed the urgent necessity of the development of regional medical education.

As a collaboration center for medical education, MEDC holds a seminar and workshop four times a year for promotion, development and improvement of medical staff education in Japan.

The 71st Seminar and Workshop is scheduled from January 25 to 27, 2019 at Juroku Plaza in front of the Gifu Station, Gifu.