A Survey Study on the Causes of Annual Paid Leave Being Left Untaken by Japanese Physicians from the Perspective of Hospital Managers

Abstract

This paper focuses on the issue of annual paid leave that is left untaken by physicians in a difficult working environment from the perspective of hospital managers and clarifies the reasons why physicians cannot (will not) take leave through interviews with these managers and main causes of this through qualitative analysis. The results show that the main causes of annual paid leave being left untaken are “the lack of substitute physicians due to management constraints” and “physician’s ethics and overwork” which are different from the results of conventional research into annual paid leave. While also exposing the issue of supply and demand such as the uneven distribution of physicians, this paper raises the necessity of human resources management for physicians such as reconstructing the supply and demand coordination framework by improving the medical services payment system for physicians in order to make sure that demand for physician labour is met and to build and maintain a system for the provision of safe and secure healthcare in the future.