Proposal For Applying Quality Management Techniques To Manage Welfare Facilities For The Elderly

In recent years, the quality of services at welfare facilities for the elderly has come into question and differences in concepts and ways of approach toward quality are affecting facility performances. In the context of quality management, the concept of quality has extended from a mere focus on service to business processes, and now focuses specifically on quality in welfare facility management. Care workers have typically been responsible for the quality of care in welfare facilities. However, as it has become difficult to retain already-trained care workers and also source fresh, competent care workers to provide care for the elderly in welfare facilities, there is a pressing need to adopt measures to find, train, and retain skilled care workers. We propose a quality management model to effectively manage welfare facilities for the elderly with an emphasis on improving the intellectual productivity of care workers in these facilities. This model is centered mainly on information sharing to secure and develop skilled human resources in order to ensure the delivery of high quality services in these facilities. Moreover, in this model, it is conditional that CS, ES, SS are met under stable management and environment that same quality and optimal services are offered. Further, we report examples of the application of this model and its effectiveness

Structure Modeling Of Improvement In The Quality Of Welfare Service And Research Trends On Welfare Industry In Japan

In Japan, the quality of service provided in elder care facilities is drawing special attention after the enforcement of the Long-term Care Insurance Act in 2000. This study is aimed at proposing a structure model on improvement in quality of welfare service and clearing a research trend on welfare industry in Japan by systematic review. At first, Key words regarding to the quality of welfare service were taken by related papers. And then we discussed those key words using KJ method and developed the structure model composed of four areas and three-layer structure. Second, a literature search was exhaustively performed with 12 keywords on Cinii and Google Scholar databases for papers published between 1991 and 2010. From the papers returned by the search, the 63 original papers were examined. This study showed that the staff’s care burden and nursing consciousness were featured themes. On the other hand, there were few researches as a customer satisfaction or information management. In addition, these researches only considered short-term effects.

Synthesis and Electrochemical Properties of C/LiMnPO4 CathodeMaterials by Complex Polymerized Method

C/LiMnPO4 materials were synthesized by the complex polymerized method. An orthorhombic olivine type structure was obtained by calcination at temperatures over 973 K under an argon/hydrogen (5%) atmosphere. Differential thermogravimetric analysis showed that the carbon content of C/LiMnPO4 was about 65 wt%. The initial discharge capacity of C/LiMnPO4 calcined at 973 K was 135 mAh/g at 0.1 C and 60 mAh/g at 1 C

Synthesis and Electrochemical Properties of C/LiMnPO4 CathodeMaterials by Complex Polymerized Method

C/LiMnPO4 materials were synthesized by the complex polymerized method. An orthorhombic olivine type structure was obtained by calcination at temperatures over 973 K under an argon/hydrogen (5%) atmosphere. Differential thermogravimetric analysis showed that the carbon content of C/LiMnPO4 was about 65 wt%. The initial discharge capacity of C/LiMnPO4 calcined at 973 K was 135 mAh/g at 0.1 C and 60 mAh/g at 1 C

A Comparative Study Of Certification Systems Based On Ethical Codes Of Medical Information On The Internet

Access to medical information has increased all over the world with the increase in Internet usage. Therefore, it is imperative to ensure the quality of medical information on the Internet. In this study, nine organizations having ethical codes relating to medical information on the Internet were subjects. Of these, ethical codes were compared on the basis of form and content. The certification systems were compared on the basis of number of certified websites, number of certified countries, cost to certify, process of certification and term of certification. As this result, here were only a few differences in form although each ethical code emphasized different content. It is unclear which certification system was the best, as all had advantages and disadvantages. The promotion of a certification system needs support from governments or other organizations. In conclusion, we propose three steps to ensure quality and control medical information online: (1) update the ethical code at least annually, (2) work with other organizations to enforce ethical codes and certification systems, and (3) raise awareness of these approaches

Development of a Gastric Cancer Diagnostic Support System with a Pattern Recognition Method Using a Hyperspectral Camera

Gastric cancer is a completely curable cancer when it can be detected at its early stage. Thus, because early detection of gastric cancer is important, cancer screening by gastroscopy is performed. Recently, the hyperspectral camera (HSC), which can observe gastric cancer at a variety of wavelengths, has received attention as a gastroscope. HSC permits the discerning of the slight color variations of gastric cancer, and we considered its applicability to a gastric cancer diagnostic support system. In this paper, after correcting reflectance to absorb the individual variations in the reflectance of the HSC, a gastric cancer diagnostic support system was designed using the corrected reflectance. In system design, the problems of selecting the optimum wavelength and optimizing the cutoff value of a classifier are solved as a pattern recognition problem by the use of training samples alone. Using the hold-out method with 104 cases of gastric cancer as samples, design and evaluation of the system were independently repeated 30 times. After analyzing the performance in 30 trials, the mean sensitivity was 72.2% and the mean specificity was 98.8%. The results showed that the proposed system was effective in supporting gastric cancer screening

Incidence and Risk Factors for Infections Requiring Hospitalization, Including Pneumocystis Pneumonia, in Japanese Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may be complicated by different infections, but risk factors for these are not fully elucidated. Here, we assessed the incidence of and risk factors for infections requiring hospitalization (IRH) including pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) in patients with RA. Methods. We retrospectively surveyed all RA patients treated at our hospital from 2009 to 2013, for whom data were available on demographic features, medications, comorbidities, and severity of RA. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was applied to calculate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for factors associated with the occurrence of IRH. Results. In a total of 9210 patient-years (2688 patients), there were 373 IRH (3.7/100 patient-years). Respiratory tract infections were most frequent (, and additionally 16 PCP), followed by urinary tract infections (). Significant factors for PCP included higher age (≥70 years; OR 3.5), male sex (6.6), underlying lung disease (3.0), use of corticosteroids (4.8), and use of biologics (5.4). Use of methotrexate (5.7) was positively associated with PCP but negatively with total infections (0.7). Additionally, functional disorders and higher RA disease activity were also related to total infections. Conclusions. Risk factors for infection should be taken into account when deciding treatment for the individual RA patient

Taxanes and platinum derivatives impair Schwann cells via distinct mechanisms

Impairment of peripheral neurons by anti-cancer agents, including taxanes and platinum derivatives, has been considered to be a major cause of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), however, the precise underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Here, we examined the direct effects of anti-cancer agents on Schwann cells. Exposure of primary cultured rat Schwann cells to paclitaxel (0.01 μM), cisplatin (1 μM), or oxaliplatin (3 μM) for 48 h induced cytotoxicity and reduced myelin basic protein expression at concentrations lower than those required to induce neurotoxicity in cultured rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. Similarly, these anti-cancer drugs disrupted myelin formation in Schwann cell/DRG neuron co-cultures without affecting nerve axons. Cisplatin and oxaliplatin, but not paclitaxel, caused mitochondrial dysfunction in cultured Schwann cells. By contrast, paclitaxel led to dedifferentiation of Schwann cells into an immature state, characterized by increased expression of p75 and galectin-3. Consistent with in vitro findings, repeated injection of paclitaxel increased expression of p75 and galectin-3 in Schwann cells within the mouse sciatic nerve. These results suggest that taxanes and platinum derivatives impair Schwan cells by inducing dedifferentiation and mitochondrial dysfunction, respectively, which may be important in the development of CIPN in conjunction with their direct impairment in peripheral neurons