2019 年 45 巻 9 号 p. 513-521
It is sometimes difficult for foreign patients to communicate with medical staff, which can cause medical safety problems because it can result in such patients not being able to sufficiently describe their symptoms. In this study, we developed a multilingual symptom-monitoring tool to support pharmacists' work in cases in which communication is hindered by language difficulties. Furthermore, we evaluated the usefulness of this monitoring tool via role-playing with foreign students. The patients' symptoms were better understood by pharmacists in the group in which the monitoring tool was used than in the control group (3.8 ± 1.6 points vs 2.3 ± 1.6 points). In addition, the interview time (130 ± 61 seconds vs 280 ± 48 seconds) and communication error (0.4 ± 0.7 points vs 0.8 ± 0.9 points) were also reduced in the group in which the monitoring tool was used. Therefore, it is suggested that the multilingual symptom-monitoring tool developed in this study could help pharmacists to appropriately evaluate patients' symptoms, and it could also help to reduce medication errors due to communication problems.
