[Medical students' images of the occupational health physician--on the evaluation of motivation in medical education].

One of the aims of the University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, is to educate students to become occupational health physicians. However, the number of students who enter the university without an understanding of this aim is large. Therefore, the course titled 'Introductory Lectures on Occupational and Environmental Health' was planned for the 2nd-year students with the purpose of giving them the motivation to become occupational health physicians. Surveys of students' images of the term "occupational health physician" before and after taking the course were accomplished using the method of 'Monju card', that is, three students, in turn, write their ideas of an occupational health physician on a card. Moreover, after the series of lectures, students were assigned a self-evaluation regarding the improvement of their images. The results of these surveys show that favorable images increased after the course, that classes offering information regarding the occupational health physician had an influence on the improvement of the images, and that students desire more such information. However, as some students indicated a strong rejection to becoming occupational health physicians throughout the course, a different type of course, and a new philosophy regarding the training of medical students may be necessary.