Abstract
In order to examine the current situation of patient education on prevention of recurrence of myocardial infarction, a questionnaire was administered to 157 hospitals and 395 clinics in Hiroshima Prefecture and Osaka Prefecture Toyono Medical area by mail, between January and March, 2010. Thirty-one valid forms were received from the hospitals (valid response rate, 19.7%) and 168 from the clinics (42.5%).
Community collaboration critical pathways were used in 16.1% of the hospitals and 14.3% of the clinics. Patient education was practiced in 74.2% of the hospital wards and 61.3% of the outpatient units, and 59.5% of the clinics. Specialists were allocated more at the hospitals than at the clinics. The patient education at the hospitals included dietary education by dietitians, medicine intake guidance by pharmacists, and diabetic management education by nurses. Education at the clinics was largely done by physicians, and the average time spent was 5 to 10 minutes at one session.
Due to short length of hospital stay and that patients are quickly discharged to clinics, patients at the acute stage could not afford time to receive education. The clinics had few specialists allocated and education was limited to short sessions by physicians during the consultation. Based on these facts, we strongly suggest to develop, foremost, community collaboration critical pathways between hospitals and clinics which promote collaborative patient education aimed at prevention of recurrence and aggravation. The pathway should then include outcome indicators to further develop a new preventive system supported by a medical insurance organization and/or a disease management company.
