Activation of community medicine by health care management

Abstract

In rural areas of Japan, the elderly make up a high percentage of the population. On top of this, the uneven distribution of health care workers in the nation greatly favors urban areas. As a result of these two factors, the medical care system faces serious problems.

To improve health care in regions outside of the large urban centers, we must overcome three strategic challenges. First, the regional medical center has to be transformed into a magnet hospital that can attract and educate medical staff. There is a need to foster generalists (medical staff associated with non-specialist, general medicine) who have a wide clinical viewpoint. Also, it is necessary to develop a pleasant work environment that includes day-care facilities for hospital staff and job-placement assistance for female staff. Second, attention must be given to the creation of local support for community medicine. A local medical culture must be fostered, one that, for example, phases out so-called convenience visits to emergency wards. And third, in order to provide high quality care in community medicine, team health care and medical networks should be promoted. Medical institutions in the region would work together as a team, with each member's role outlined in the procedures of liaison critical pathways. As medical quality is standardized and medical transparency achieved, patient-oriented medicine in the region will become a reality.

This paper introduces the practice of health care management at Fukuchiyama City Hospital.