[Board of cardiovascular surgery in Japan: past, present, and future].

The Japanese Board of Cardiovascular Surgery (JBCVS) was established in 2003. The criteria for board certification were raised compared with those under the previous system. For the past five years, the JBCVS has continuously made efforts to improve the quality of board-certified surgeons. Their number is expected to decrease considerably due to these reforms. Moreover, from 2010, the JBCVS will limit the number of recognized training hospitals by excluding those with small surgical volume. The work environment for cardiovascular surgeons has remained poor in this country, which will likely be worsened by the future decrease in their number. Therefore, every effort should be made to free them from postoperative care and time-consuming administrative tasks by introducing physician's assistant and medical coordinator systems.