Difficulties and Countermeasures in Nursing Practice for Non-English-Speaking Foreign Patients with COVID-19 / 日本農村医学会雑誌

The purpose of this study was to clarify difficulties and countermeasures in nursing practice for foreign patients with COVID-19 who were non-English native speakers. A questionnaire was collected from 16 nurses in a COVID-19 ward. They cared for 13 non-English-speaking foreign patients from admission to discharge in the ward between May 2021 and June 2021. All nurses reported difficulties in communication related to collecting information from patients and explaining hospital care. For example, they could have simple conversations using a two-way translation device (POKETALK®) but could not understand detailed symptoms or complaints without an interpreter. Not much meaning could be inferred from a patient’s response of “OK”. The nurses reported that it was difficult to explain details of treatments, Japanese customs, and hospital rules. With the help of interpreters, they made hospital manuals and question cards in the patients’ native languages. In nursing care for foreign patients with COVID-19, it was helpful to provide explanations of Japanese customs and hospital rules before admission and to prepare hospital manuals and question cards in patients’ native languages.

Clinical Experience and Lessons of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Treatment Early in the Pandemic at a Public Regional Core Hospital / 日本農村医学会雑誌

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly in Japan. The purpose of this study was to report the clinical experience of our COVID-19 patients early in the pandemic and lessons from our experience. An outpatient fever clinic was established on April 7. Admission of COVID-19 patients was started on July 23. Between April 7 and September 30, there were 364 walk-in outpatients and emergency patients with fever. Polymerase chain reaction test for SARS-CoV-2 RNA or COVID-19 antigen test were performed in all patients, and all results were negative. Twenty patients with COVID-19 were admitted to a newly established dedicated COVID-19 ward. They were discharged well. There were no cases of nosocomial infection at our hospital. Length of hospitalization was correlated with serum ferritin level at admission, serum CRP level at admission, and age. More than half the patients experienced psychological stress, and COVID-19 specialized nurses experienced some stress. It is essential to set up the medical system for COVID-19 according to the trends of the disease. Creation of our original database and our “problem notebook” were useful for treatment and care of COVID-19 patients as well as for mental care of nurses.