Long-term outcomes of people certified as being eligible for long-term care insurance have not yet been well examined.　We conducted a population-based cohort study to examine the outcomes and death rate in non-hospital settings of elderly receiving care under long-term care insurance.　Participants were 2,338 elders aged 65 years or older who were certified as being eligible for the insurance between April 2003 and December 2004.　We combined the baseline data with the vital statistics.　Excluding 76 elders, who had moved to other areas, we followed up all the elders from the baseline.　Time until death was short in cases of cancer, cognitive impairment, multi-morbidity, others, no disease, musculoskeletal disorders, and cerebral vascular disease.　The mortality rate in elders with cognitive impairment or multi-morbidity was similar to that in those with cancer approximately eight years after the subjects had been assessed as requiring assistance and care, especially among females.　The rates of death in non-hospital settings were higher for “natural death” and lower for death from pneumonia than for death for cerebral vascular disease.　The rate of death in non-hospital settings was higher among males than among females.　Our results indicate priority targets to promote death in non-hospital/clinic settings.

The number of hospitals in which full-time or semi-full-time patient safety managers are assigned have increased, but a few studies demonstrated its effectiveness.　This study aimed to identify the difference in patient safety activities by safety manager’s assignment in hospitals and to examine the effectiveness of the assignment on patient safety activities in hospitals.

A mail survey, based on stratified sampling by the number of acute-care beds in hospitals, was conducted for 3,270 hospitals from August to September 2015.　The valid response rate was 22%.　A tendency that the implementation ratios of each patient safety activity were improved when the assignment of patient safety manager was enriched.　This study suggested that the assignment of the semi-full-time patient safety manager might enrich the basic patient safety management system and activities in the hospitals, the assignment of a full-time patient safety manager might promote a cooperation with external organizations, and the assignment of a full-time patient safety manager with some full-time or semi-full-time patient safety managers might expand the range of activities which required knowledge and experience of wide variety of professions.

The Act on the Protection of Personal Information came into full force in April 2005, allowing medical facilities to handle personal information, but what steps should be taken when handling personal information depends on each medical facility.　The aim of the current study was to ascertain the current state of implementation of systems governing the use and protection of personal information by medical facilities.　Departments responsible for protecting personal information （departments coordinating those efforts） in municipal hospitals were surveyed nationwide.　When asked about the number of personnel who were involved in work related to protection of patients’ personal information, over 40% of “small and medium-sized hospitals” and “large hospitals” answered that “personnel are appropriately allocated” to protect personal information.　Thus, “small and medium-sized hospitals” and “large hospitals” differed little.　When asked whether patients’ medical information was disclosed to other facilities or study groups via a computer network, over 60% of small and medium-sized hospitals answered that they “do not” disclose such information, while close to 60% of large hospitals answered that they “do” disclose such information.　Results revealed substantial differences in the use of personal information on a computer network depending on the size of the municipal hospital.

We assessed the current state of the wage system for nurses in a multifaceted and quantitative manner with multiple-attribute utility technology.　This study included the interested individuals of medical corporation B in A prefecture.　The targeted wage system comprised seniority-based, duty-position-based, and performance-based wage categories, with 10 items for evaluation.　Each item was assessed from several perspectives extended to macro levels:i.e., from the interested individual, to the organization, and finally to the level of the entire health industry.　The results revealed the highest utility value was shown in a seniority-based wage category from interested individual and organization level perspectives;whereas, from the perspective of the macro level of the health industry, the highest utility value was shown in a duty-position-based wage category.　As a result of reflecting external perspectives, such as those of patients, in the wage system as opinions of health service receivers to avoid a closed wage system reflecting only opinions of health service providers, it was suggested that the most reasonable wage system for nurses was a duty-position-based wage system.