Facilitators and barriers to physicians’ entrepreneurial ventures in major Japanese cities: A qualitative study

Abstract

Background The Japanese healthcare system currently faces numerous challenges, including a super-aging society and an excessive burden on medical workers; therefore, the need for innovative solutions from healthcare ventures to tackle these issues has increased. Meanwhile, as physicians play important roles in healthcare ventures, the need for Japanese physician entrepreneurs is more important than ever. Given the lack of research examining barriers to physicians starting ventures and what skills, knowledge, and surrounding environments act as facilitators, this study aimed to identify the facilitators and barriers faced by physicians to start ventures. Methods Between September and November 2019 and in May 2021, qualitative interviews were conducted with 33 participants, which included eight physician entrepreneurs; two administrative officers at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; three faculty members at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (in-depth interviews); and 20 medical students (focus group discussions). The interviews were deductively coded based on the social ecological model. The inductive approach was applied to coding any knowledge necessary to start a business. We conducted member checking with three physician entrepreneurs and seven medical students to improve our results’ credibility. Results The factors influencing a physician’s decision to launch a new business include their willingness to contribute to society, the unique environment in which an individual is placed while in medical school and afterward, negative aspects of the lack of diversity in physicians’ careers, the financial stability provided by a medical license, and self-efficacy. Conclusions Our study revealed facilitators and barriers to physicians’ entrepreneurial ventures. Knowledge about these factors might be useful in supporting physicians to launch or become involved in healthcare ventures.

Elucidation of the needs for telecritical care services in Japan: a qualitative study

“…During the coding process, MM created the first draft of the codebook, which was finalised during discussions in a research meeting after receiving inputs from all coauthors. MM led the coding process based on the codebook, and MM and NN held online meetings every week to address any issues that arose while applying the code 18. We analysed all 70 records to ensure that no important themes were overlooked, even if they may have appeared infrequently, to identify the need for telecritical care in Japan.…”

“…Therefore, the physicians in our team could interpret the findings of their respective specialties and identify the needs in the consultations provided by frontline physicians. In addition, NN received formal training in qualitative research and has already published multiple qualitative studies 18…”

“…MM led the coding process based on the codebook, and MM and NN held online meetings every week to address any issues that arose while applying the code. 18 We analysed all 70 records to ensure that no important themes were overlooked, even if they may have appeared infrequently, to identify the need for telecritical care in Japan.…”

“…In addition, NN received formal training in qualitative research and has already published multiple qualitative studies. 18 While coding transcripts of recorded telecritical care conversations between frontline physicians and intensivists, the authors could have interpreted the results according to their own medical knowledge when the meaning was ambiguous due to omitted words. To avoid this, the authors tried to make interpretations according to the data as much as possible.…”