A Research Survey of Interprofessional Collaboration about the Pharmaceutical Service by Pharmacies and Visiting Nurse Stations

Abstract

With regard to proper drug use in home care, the failure of approximately half of all elderly patients to comply with their doctor’s medication instructions and many other issues have been reported. However, pharmacists’ involvement in home care support remains inadequate, as highlighted by a Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare report which noted the lack of full utilization of pharmacists in community medicine as well as the fact that home nurses often have to manage their patients’ medications. The Setsunan University Faculty of Nursing was established in 2012, and the university’s Faculties of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Nursing collaborate in their educational activities. To increase pharmacists’ involvement in home care support, we launched a project to create a home care support model in which pharmacists and nurses work in collaboration, utilizing their respective faculty resources. In this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey of pharmacies and visiting nurse stations in Osaka Prefecture regarding the present status of and problems related to pharmacists’ participation in the home care system and visiting nurses’ current involvement in medication management, as well as what is expected of pharmacists. Based on these results, we are constructing a model in which Faculties of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Nursing collaboratively support the home care system with the aim of establishing the role that universities should play in a comprehensive regional care program.