Study of Sharing Patient Information by Nurses Between Inpatient and Outpatient Wards in Japan

Studies in Health Technology and Informatics Volume 284Shortening hospital stays increases communication needs between nurses in inpatient and outpatient wards. Smooth information sharing is required to reduce the workload of nurses and improve the quality of patient care. However, electronic medical records (EMR) system does not have sufficient functions to support information sharing between wards, because EMR has been developed mainly for recording. This study led to three improvements; unified communication tool, common patient list linked to EMR, and outpatient nursing diagnosis

How Grief, Funerals, and Poverty Affect Bereaved Health, Productivity, and Medical Dependence in Japan

死別による生産性の低下・疾病・医療福祉依存の実態を調査 --死別悲嘆のコストに、いかに対応できるか--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2020-09-28.Reducing the high social cost of death. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2020-10-06.Grief has been shown to weaken bereaved persons' health, but measurements of their lost time and medical expense remain rare. Funerals traditionally managed and assuaged grief through ritual expression, approval, and social support. Research suggests that satisfying funeral participation reduces grief, while poverty exacerbates it. We hypothesized that: (1) psycho-physical symptoms of grief, (2) abbreviation/dissatisfaction in the funeral, and (3) poverty, correlate with decreased productivity and increased medical and social services use. We collected data from 165 mourning families about their grief, funerals, and subsequent medical conditions. (1) Deeper grief after bereavement in Japan correlated with more physical problems, more down time, and more medical dependency. (2) Low satisfaction with funerals correlated with higher hospital, pharmacy, and counseling costs. (3) Low income families lost more time, while declining incomes showed increased pharmaceutical costs. This suggests that satisfying funerals and income safeguards may reduce costs of low productivity and increased public services dependency

女子大学生の学習意欲と幼児への運動遊びの指導との関係について―運動遊び「チャレンジシリーズ」を通して―

本研究は保育者養成課程における運動遊びに着目し、女子大学生の意欲的な学習の取り組み、学生の技術習得、子どもの理解、および運動遊びの指導の関係を調べた。「幼児体育Ⅱ」の授業の運動遊び「チャレンジシリーズ」（けん玉・竹馬・お手玉・フラフープ・紐ごま）を対象としてアンケート調査を行った。授業内で運動遊びの各種目に繰り返し取り組むことで、学生自身ができた喜びを実感し、学んだことを友達に伝えたり、コツをわかりやすく伝えたりしていた。意欲的に取り組んだ学生は、自分なりに運動遊びのコツをつかみ、保育者を目指す上での大切な経験と学びをしていた。一方、運動遊びのコツがつかめず上達しなかった学生もいた。授業を進める上で、学生の意欲をより高め、到達目標に向かって努力することができるよう段階を踏んだ取り組みに配慮し、学生同士のつながりと学び合いを深めていく必要があ

Identifying bereaved grievers with greatest medical or social service needs in Japan

[Objective] Severe grief adversely affects the health of bereaved families, potentially burdening medical and community health services. Interventions for effective community health maintenance must identify the people likely to face severe effects of bereavement. The present study identified characteristics of mourners who experience severe grief within a year of bereavement to confirm whether this grief increased their reliance on Japanese medical and social services. [Design] We conducted a nationwide postal survey of Japanese bereaved within the previous year, to compare those reporting daily or overwhelming ‘heavy’ grief to those with less heavy grief, in terms of demographic and socioeconomic details, daily work and non-work activity, frequency of medical and social service use. [Setting/participants] In 2019, with the support of the Ministry of Education and the All Japan Funeral Co-Operation, we distributed approximately 5500 questionnaires to Japanese who had presided at funerals within the past year for anonymous return. By January of 2020, we received 1078 complete voluntary responses from bereaved Japanese. [Results] Half of the ‘heavy grief’ group (n=143) reported adverse effects on health and daily life, including needs for pharmacological, medical or welfare support. Losses of husbands or children were particularly connected to severe grief; ‘unexpected’ death from cancer caused the greatest shock. Employment (even part-time) buffered against severe grief; grief was greater for the unemployed and substantially worse for those who lost significant income at the same time as they lost loved ones. [Conclusion] These findings suggest that prior counselling should reduce the shock of bereavement and economic loss, which increases subsequent medical dependence. Medical professionals and community health workers can use the above factors to target in advance the family members in greatest danger of heavy grief, to intervene lest grief adversely affect their physical and psychological health after bereavement

Unexplored Costs of Bereavement Grief in Japan: Patterns of Increased Use of Medical, Pharmaceutical, and Financial Services

Our Japan-wide survey (n=1, 078) revealed that bereaved who showed increased reliance on medical, pharmaceutical, and financial/legal services was in the ‘50’s age bracket, and for unemployed widows; it corresponded less with low annual income than with high income. Increased users reported their decline in physical health seriously influencing their work and lives, suggesting “presenteeism”. Moreover, they spent 2.7 times more for medical and pharmaceutical services than those reporting continual use, portending 4 to 10 times more Japanese government expense for this group, half of whom considered their own out-of-pocket expenses a financial burden

Dose-Dependent Effects of Barley Cooked with White Rice on Postprandial Glucose and Desacyl Ghrelin Levels

White rice is an indispensable staple food in Japan, although it is a high glycemic index food. The objective of this study was to estimate how barley cooked with white rice might affect postprandial glucose, insulin and desacyl ghrelin concentrations as well as fullness. The study was conducted in randomized crossover design with nine healthy subjects. Blood glucose, insulin, free fatty acid and desacyl ghrelin concentrations and subjective levels of fullness and hunger were measured for 240 min after intake of glucose, white rice, 30% rolled barley (30BAR), 50% rolled barley (50BAR) and 100% rolled barley (100BAR) containing 75 g of available carbohydrate. Postprandial glucose and insulin levels were suppressed by intake of 30BAR, 50BAR and 100BAR comparing with those of white rice. Area under the curves of plasma glucose and insulin concentrations was reduced by barley intake in a dose-dependent manner. Although plasma desacyl ghrelin levels decreased postprandially, the degree of reduction was suppressed by barley intake in a dose-dependent manner. Postprandial desacyl ghrelin levels can be a sensitive biomarker of carbohydrate metabolism. The combination of white rice with barley plays a beneficial role in preventing and treating type 2 diabetes, obesity and other metabolic diseases