A Review of Trends in Nursing Practice in Sanatoriums for Hansen’s Disease - A Review of the Domestic Literature

Abstract

  The purpose of this study is to organize the nursing practice developed in leprosy sanatoriums in Japan, to present the content of nursing care, which until now has tended to be limited to individual nurses’ reports of practice and research, together with its trends, and to use this information to improve the quality of nursing practice provided in leprosy sanatoriums in Japan in the future. Using the Ichushi Web, 17 references were selected for analysis from 842 references in accordance with the selection process. The content was organized into four categories, including “nursing care for the aftereffects of leprosy,” “Nursing care based on each resident’s lifestyle and past background.,” etc. The results indicated that in addition to health care and medical treatment for the aftereffects of leprosy, there are nursing practices that support the continuation of daily life and individual nursing practices based on the past background of the residents who have lived through this disease. The study also showed that there are nursing practices that support the continuation of daily life, as well as individualized nursing practices that take into account the past background of the residents. Thus, it can be said that leprosy nursing is a unique nursing practice that has been changing through trial and error in order to solve problems due to the special circumstances of the disease, but there are many points that should be applied to other nursing practices.