Objective: In order to ensure the safety of nursing home residents, it is very important to implement appropriate assistance to ensure compliance with necessary medication. The purpose of this study is to identify issues and to plan solutions for medication assistance.
Design: We conducted a workshop involving care workers (CWs), nurses and pharmacists together.
Methods: Using the KJ method, participants extracted problems related to medication assistance and planned solutions in a mixed group of CWs, nurses and pharmacists. Questionnaire surveys were conducted for the participants before, immediately after, and 3 months after the workshop.
Results: A number of important and urgent issues related to medication assistance were identified. There were differences in the recognition patterns of the importance and urgency of the issues among the three categories of participants. In addition, many possible solutions were proposed. Among these solutions, 25% had been implemented by at least two participants. More than 75 % of participants felt that their awareness of the value of cooperation in medication assistance had been improved by participating in the workshop.
Conclusion: These results suggest that a workshop with a group of CWs, nurses and pharmacists in one place is a useful approach for extracting problems and planning effective solutions related to cooperation in medication assistance.
