Introduction: This study examined the association between the use of home nursing care and the consultation time of emergency home visits among patients using home health care.

Methods: Participants were recruited from three urban clinics in Japan between September 1 and November 30, 2019. Univariate analysis and multivariate negative binomial regression analysis considering institutional clusters were performed on the relationship between the two.

Results: A total of 278 patients were included in the analyses. The use of home nursing care was significantly associated with a decrease in the time spent during emergency home visits in both univariate and multivariate analyses (P < 0.018 and P < 0.001, respectively). The multivariate analysis estimated the mean reduction in consultation time to be 10.3 minutes (95% confidence interval, 9.9-10.8).

Conclusion: The use of home nursing care reduced the consultation time in emergency home visits. This study suggested that home nursing care can reduce the burden on physicians providing home visits, but further studies are needed to improve collaboration.

Introduction: Vaccine policies have changed in recent years in Japan. In the present study, we assessed practices, recommendations, knowledge, and sources of information among primary care physicians (PCPs) regarding vaccinations in Japan.

Methods: We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional study targeting PCPs in Japan. We used a web-based self-administered questionnaire targeting physicians that were members of the Japan Primary Care Association in 2019. We analyzed respondent administrations, recommendations, knowledge, and sources of information regarding vaccinations.

Results: We received responses from 1,084 PCPs (20.1%) and invited 981 participants for the analysis. The rates at which physicians gave routine and voluntary vaccines in their own practices were 23.3-95.5% and 13.2-94.4%, respectively. The active recommendation rates for routine and voluntary vaccines were 41.6-92.0% and 13.6-75.5%, respectively. Furthermore, among routine vaccines, human papillomavirus vaccine was the least administered and recommended. PCPs working at clinics had the most accurate knowledge about vaccinations, and PCPs utilized academic organizations most readily as an information resource.

Conclusion: We clarified practices, recommendations, knowledge, and sources of information regarding vaccinations among PCPs in Japan.

In the field of diabetes mellitus, medical practice and medication counseling that elicits self-management by patients are desired. Thus, the improvement of communication skills of healthcare professionals and adopting an interdisciplinary approach to diabetes patients are considered important.

In the COVID-19 pandemic era, the adoption of telemedicine and remote medication counseling to actual clinical practice has become an important issue; however, training opportunities for the skills required, especially in the diabetes field, are scarce. Therefore, we held an online training session for healthcare professionals to improve their telemedicine and remote medication counseling skills.

The third annual meeting of Primary Care Research (PCR) Connect was the start of the Special Interest Group (SIG) initiative addressing research on the social determinants of health. The SIG is important for building networks among researchers to promote primary care research on complex systems.