ABSTRACT
Background : Since 2002, Keio University Hospital's Kampo Clinic has promoted itself actively through the media, public presentations, faculty outreach and an internet home page. However, the relative value of these promotions is unknown. Additionally, the range and prevalence of presenting concerns, and the ages and the gender ratio of the patients served at Keio is unknown.Objective and Methods : To better understand and better serve the patients, the medical charts of every new patient who presented to Keio University Hospital's Kampo Clinic from November 2004 to November 2005 (n=791) were retrospectively analyzed for 1) referral source, 2) age, 3) gender, and, 4) disease category.Results : The internet webpage was by far the best source of new patient referrals. The out-of-hospital referral rate to the clinic was remarkably low. Women exceeded men by a 3 : 1 ratio. Most women were in their thirties but male patients were fairly evenly distributed across the age spectrum. Patients under 16 and over 70 were gender-balanced. The vast majority of patients presented with general medicine/pediatric, dermatological or gynecological problems.Conclusion : A patient-oriented internet home page provides a good source of new patient referrals. Given the low rate of referrals from outside hospitals and physicians, additional outreach directed at internal medicine, dermatology or obstetrics/gynecology physicians appears warranted.
Subject(s)
Hospitals , Medicine, Kampo , UniversitiesABSTRACT
Kyo-kyo-kuman has not been analyzed with modern medicine methods. We hypothesize that Kyo-kyo-kuman reflects the severity of somatization symptoms. Thus we investigated the correlation of Kyo-kyo-kuman with somatization symptoms, using Keio's Kyo-kyo-kuman scale (K-scale) and the Screener for Somatoform Disorders (SSD). One hundred and fifty patients (38 males, 112 females, mean age 40.69±17.56 years) were evaluated for their Kyo-kyo-kuman levels, using the K-scale and the number of somatization symptoms according to the SSD. On the right, the K-scale scores correlated significantly with the number of present somatization symptoms (R=0.440, p<0.0001) and the number of somatization symptoms within one year (R=0.476, p<0.0001). On the left, the K-scale scores correlated significantly with the number of somatization symptoms lasting for more than three months (R=0.450, p<0.0001), the number of present somatization symptom (R=0.597, p<0.0001) and the number of somatization symptoms within one year (R=0.586, p<0.0001).<br>In conclusion, patients having Kyo-kyo-kuman tended to complain of many kinds of somatization symptoms. We suggest that Kyo-kyo-kuman correlates well with these symptoms.