Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #106928

Kazuko Naruse, MPH, PHN, RN, Former Expert for Japan International Coperation Agency, 1-20-33, Asagaya-minami, Suginami-ku, Tokyo, 166-0004, Japan, 81-3-3314-6329, uminek@tkc.att.ne.jp, Hiromi Kawagoe, Professor, PHN, RN, Nursing Research Center for Development of Nursing Practice, St. Luke's College of Nursing, 10-1, Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0044, Japan, Hiroko Nagae, MN, PHN, RN, Community health nursing, St.Luke's College of Nursing, 10-1, Akashi-cho,Chuoku, Tokyo, 104-0044, Japan, Machiko Kawana, R Ph, Sanmedic Co., Ltd., Hiro Pharmacy, KaitoMemorial Building 1Fl, 2-8-15 Hyakunin-cho, Shinjyuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-0073, Japan, and Masaru Tanaka, R Ph, Propharmacy Co., Ltd., Kusunoki Pharmacy, Umeda 7-18-12, Adachi-ku, Tokyo, 123-0851, Japan.

To promote terminal care of cancer patient at home, team care is essential and the member has to work systematically. Unfortunately, pharmacist has not been involved in the home hospice care in Japan due to some difficulties. In spite of importance of the role in home hospice, needs to or even current utilization of the pharmacy among healthcare providers are unclear. To identify present roles, problems and expectations of pharmacy regarding home care of terminal cancer patient, the survey was conducted on pharmacy, home-visit nursing station (hereafter HVNS) and hospitals/clinics engaging in home care. Subjects were selected from Tokyo metropolitan area in Japan; two-stage random sampling method was applied to choose 306 pharmacies, 366 hospitals/clinics and 276 home visiting nursing stations. Questionnaire was sent by post on October 1999, response rate was 50.2%(pharmacy), 42.1%(hospitals/ Clinics), 57.6%(HVNS). Answers were analyzed by using SPSS 9.0. Comparing to hospitals/clinics and HVNS, small number of pharmacy (16.4%) had been involved in the care of terminal cancer patient because of various constraints. None of pharmacy experienced management of pain control by injection and they rarely stocked narcotic injection that HVNS desired to obtain for controlling pain. Physicians took main role regarding pain control and the role of pharmacy was mainly preparation of a medicine. Result shows pharmacy hesitated to be involved to home care of terminal cancer patient actively in spite of expectation of nurses and physicians. Systematic review and building a new scheme is required to fulfill this gap.

Learning Objectives:

The participant will be able to
• have a rough idea on the system of Japanese home hospice care
• know situation and problems in terms of home care of terminal cancer patients, especially regarding pharmacy in Japan.

Keywords: Home Care, Caregivers

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.