2018 Volume 64 Issue 3 Pages 223-226
As part of an out-of-hospital practice program conducted by the Department of Coloproctological Surgery, we investigated the facilities for ostomates together with Malaysian medical students from British colleges. We visited Asakusa and Kamakura to search for ostomate-compatible toilets. We had paid little attention to the ostomate symbol. Actually, there were not only ostomate-compatible toilets in hospitals, but also in many public places. An ostomate-compatible toilet was equipped with a large and deep sink at waist height, which allows the ostomate to dispose of feces from the stoma pouch. Some ostomate-compatible toilets also had a hand shower for cleaning the skin around the stoma. Since there has been an increase of ostomates, it is an urgent necessity to also increase the number of ostomate-compatible toilets and raise public awareness. However, there is a larger number of ostomate-compatible toilets in Japan, compared with other countries. This tour provided our first experience with ostomate-compatible toilets. We were able to identify a larger than expected number of ostomate-compatible toilets during out-of-hospital practice.
