2018 Volume 45 Issue 3 Pages 485-491
Changes in the social environment accompanying the declining birthrate and aging birthrate in Japan are inevitably coming to bear a burden on health care workers. Such as home medical care and nursing care, the need of strengthening of the health care and medical support is growing steadily. Under such circumstances, I believe that the role of preventive medicine and medical examination is momentous.
On the other hand, the exhaustion of health care workers due to an excessive work environment is serious. How to allocate limited medical resources is an important issue, I feel the necessity of multi-occupation collaboration and of expansion of co-workers authority of work.
We were involved in the creation of a “Comprehensive Counseling and Support Center” that is a medical support department that has integrated many professions, at Tokyo Medical University Hospital, and I am involved in studying on the dilemma related to work at the “Clinical Ethics Study Group”. Based on these experiences, I think that there is a problem for individuals with professional, educational and personal backgrounds to work together.
On the other hand, I think that, considering the current state of our facilities, at present medical examination facilities, rather than expanding the scope of authority, each department should demonstrate their abilities and aims for progress.
However, modern medical technology, artificial-intelligence and information-technology are progressing at an accelerating pace. I believe that, considering the inevitable change in the medical examination system accompanying the progressing, it is necessary to draw a future image of us, such as expansion of the scope of authority.
