The current situation and issues related to patient/patient family support in medical institutions

─── Expected roles of medical coordinators and future prospects ───

Abstract

In the FY 2012 revision of medical fee, additional medical remuneration points for providing organizational patient support were newly established, which led to consideration of the assignment of medical coordinators in medical institutions. We studied the current status of medical coordinator deployment and organizational patient/patient family support in medical institutions. Given the results, we discussed the expected role of the medical coordinators and the future development of patient/patient family support systems. The subjects were medical institutions that filed-in Measures for Medical Safety Supplement 1 or 2 （N=3,479）.

Responses to the survey were obtained from 976 medical institutions （response rate: 28.1%）. Most of the medical institutions considered “appropriate response to patient/patient family consultation” and “facilitation of smooth interdepartmental team work and mediation” to be the most effective functions among other roles of medical coordinators.

Medical coordinators are expected to respond to consultation regarding medical accidents and claims and educate hospital personnel on these issues. They are also expected to continuously upgrade their skills. A hospital-wide organizational effort with close coordination with the medical safety manager is required in order to establish an effective and efficient patient/patient family support system.