We examined whether the main clinical department had a significant impact on various financial aspects of clinics with beds, while controlling the effects of various factors. We also identified clinical departments with relatively stronger influence and factors with higher influence than those departments. As demonstrated by the higher profitability of ophthalmology than orthopedics but poor return on assets in ophthalmology, different departments affected financial condition of the clinic in different ways, thus complicating the process of determining the general effects of clinical departments on the financial condition. Nonetheless, ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology, followed by pediatrics, were generally in good financial condition compared to internal medicine, whereas obstetrics and gynecology and orthopedics were in an overall poor financial condition. We also found that the financial impact was greatest when the main clinical department was ophthalmology but that economic scale (business income and total assets) of the clinic had a stronger impact as compared to all other factors. However, it should be noted that the coefficient of determination of this regression model is not sufficiently large, and there could be other factors not analyzed in this study that could likewise influence the financial condition of a clinic with beds.

The specialty of family medicine has begun to gain recognition in Japan. However, advertising family medicine specialists is not approved, and legislation restricts the naming of clinics, thereby making it difficult for patients and community members to know the specialty of the clinic based on the name alone. This study analyzed the names of 162 clinics registered as facilities employing family medicine specialists, by assessing components of the names and isolating commonly used terms, especially those related to specialties, to find whether they were reflected on the clinic names. The analysis revealed a total of 475 terms and 86 words; 23 words were used in multiple clinic names. The terms “family”, “family medicine”, and “home” related to the specialty of family medicine were used in 24.7% clinic names, and the use of the three words also increased significantly in the past years. The other facilities did not use terms related to the specialty of family medicine in their names, suggesting the need to investigate the awareness about the availability of family medicine specialists in clinics among patients and community members.

Purpose: To evaluate business continuity planning including transportation, medical logistics and business continuity plan for non-infrastructural damage to Japanese hospitals due to disaster. Methods: A disaster preparedness questionnaire was sent to 2,537 hospitals and clinics in Japan in 2018, and the completed responses of 495 hospitals were analyzed. Results: In the event of disabled elevators, planned patient transportation was mainly by stretcher in 393 hospitals (74.9%), followed by being carried on the back of staff, by wrapping in a blanket, and by emergency wheelchair. Emergency rations for patients were stocked mostly in warehouses, followed by kitchens and hospital wards. Stocks of medicines and disposable medical equipment were sufficient to last 2–3 days in 66.3% of hospitals, whereas 11.5% of hospitals had no stockpiles. Emergency rations for hospital staff were stocked for 3 days in 66.1% of responded hospitals. Of the responding hospitals, 66.5% had an organized business continuity plan for damage by disasters and 25.9% were in the process of developing a plan. However, only 44.8% of responding hospitals performed disaster drills. Conclusions: Most hospitals in Japan have undertaken business continuity disaster planning. However, practice emergency drills should be performed much more regularly in Japan.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to describe and measure the contributions of a patient information and home visiting system that we constructed at a care facility for non-severe COVID-19 patients.

Methods: Data between April 2020 and October 2021 were retrospectively extracted from the records of the Miyagi Prefecture COVID-19 Coordination Office and medical records at a care facility assisted by Tohoko University Hospital. Hospitalization and death figures were used to evaluate the contribution of problem solving conducted at the facility.

Results: During the study period, 4,075 patients were admitted to the facility. We identified the following issues: the control number for a given patient differed among departments, information was recorded on paper, and data communication methods and formats were not standardized. To solve these issues control data was recorded electronically and a wide-area IT system was used to share the data among multiple departments. In addition, a remote medical record terminal of Tohoku University Hospital was placed and a system to examine and treat on site was established at the facility. As a result, no deaths occurred at the facility within the study period.

Conclusions: The systems we established may have contributed toward zero mortality at the facility, which was later called a care facility with medical functions.

This study identifies the factors, personal and professional resources that influence staff nurses to work vigorously.

We conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 nurses in the Kanto area in Japan, asked them about the factors that influence them to work vigorously as a nurse, and analyzed their responses using the Berelson, B. content analysis method.

Four core categories and 12 categories were extracted: [efforts lead to good outcomes], [work environment with peace of mind], [prospects for moving forward], and [commitment to work with a sense of ownership]. The results show that various factors impact the staff nurses’ drive to work vigorously. They include a personal view in which their sense of self-efficacy is enhanced by the feeling that their nursing practice produces good outcomes and a professional view in which they achieve peace of mind by providing nursing care without hesitation because they have a secure work environment. Notably, the [prospects for moving forward] was a factor of the meaning of work, and factors that include the meaning of work and readiness for work were considered particularly important.