ABSTRACT
Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Japan, offers “Early Exposure to Medical Practice” in the first semester for first-year medical students to learn about patient-centered care as well as the real-world conditions and issues faced in community medical practice. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic during the past two years, we planned and implemented online training, including some disability simulations, which mostly aimed to prevent the spread of infection. The students who completed these training courses reported that the online training had certain advantages over hands-on training ; the two activities implemented were not only effective in preventing infection but also had other benefits that only an online environment could provide. Herein, we report the results and some of the merits of these practices in 2021.
ABSTRACT
In 2011, during the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, 90% of victims died from drowning. We report on two tsunami survivors with severe pneumonia potentially caused by Legionella pneumophila. Both victims aspirated a large quantity of contaminated water; sand, mud and a variety of microbes were thought to have entered into their lower respiratory tracts. One patient had a mycotic intracranial aneurysm; the other patient had co-infections with several organisms, including Scedosporium species. Although scedosporiosis is a relatively rare infectious disease, symptoms are progressive and prognosis is poor. These pathogens are not specific for tsunami lung, but are reported causative agents for pneumonia after near-drowning.
ABSTRACT
<b>Objective: </b>To examine how best to provide information on over-the-counter (OTC) drugs in the future, the Japan Self-Medication Industry (JSMI) conducted an online survey on public attitudes toward changes in the system for controlling the sales of OTC drugs specified by the revised Pharmaceutical Affairs Act effective since June 2009.<br><b>Methods: </b>A secure web-based questionnaire system was developed and linked to the JSMI website. The survey was conducted between July 17 and August 31, 2009.<br><b>Results: </b>Of the 4,257 people who responded to the questionnaire, 56.8% indicated they understood the provisions of the revised Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. More than half of the responders had positive opinions of the revision. They welcomed the improvement in convenience resulting from the availability of drugs at convenience stores, but “Druggists,” who are responsible for sales of the drugs, were not sufficiently represented among responders. It was inferred that the general public feels that they should be able to purchase OTC drugs for self-medication after receiving sufficient information about the drugs from qualified sources.