Changes in Pediatric Hospital Staff’s Sense of Difficulty Toward Palliative Care:A Single-pediatric Hospital Survey Report

The purpose of this study was to clarify the changes in the sense of difficulty hospital staff felt toward palliative care before and after a palliative care team of the pediatric hospital started in-hospital consultation. A self-administered questionnaire about the difficulty, consisting of 21 items in five areas, was used to conduct a survey in 2015 for the pre-consultation period, and in 2018 for the post-consultation period. Responses were obtained from 222 people in the pre-consultation period (response rate of 70.9%) and from 384 people in the post-consultation period (response rate of 87.3%). Over 70% of the respondents were nurses and midwives. A lower sense of difficulty was observed in three of the items including “relief of painful symptoms”, “family care during caregiving”, and “support when oneself and surrounding staff feeling inadequate and lost”. Further, a significant decrease was observed in the sense of difficulty in six items reported by nurses and midwives in departments receiving the interventions. Eleven of the 16 cases in which the palliative care team intervened involved multiple requests for intervention for 2 patients with pain control difficulties, suggesting that the consultation activities contributed to the decrease in the sense of difficulty experienced by nurses and midwives.

Survey of injuries resulting from agricultural accidents in Ehime prefecture using insurance documents / 日本農村医学会雑誌

Two hundred and four cases of injuries in agricultural accidents that were entered in the insurance documents of agricultural cooperative associations in Ehime prefecture from April 1987 to March 1988 were analyzed. Eighty-three percent were males and 17 % were females. Three cases died from the accidents. Sixty-four percent of the male cases were in their fifties or sixties and 59 % of the female cases were in their forties or fifties. The agricultural machines which were being used when the accidents occurred were bush-cutters (29 %), mounted-type monorails for conveyance (14 %), combine harvesters (10 %), riding-type tractors (9 %), walking-type tractors (5%), etc. These types of agricultural machine reflect the dominance of citrus fruits production characteristic of Ehime prefecture. The annual incidence rate is highest in mounted-type monorails (1.92/1, 000 units), followed by tillers (1.63) and combine harvesters (1.48). The greater part of the accidents happened from May to December, from 9: 00 to 12: 00 and from 14: 00 to 17: 00. The distributions by month and time of occurrence were considered to have a close bearing on the frequency of machine operation. Sundays, Fridays and national holidays had a relatively larger number of accident occurrences. The possible reasons are increased fatigue of operators on weekends and increased amount of farm-work on holidays by part-time farmers who have additional jobs outside farming; however, further studies are needed.

A study of eight subjective symptoms concerned with the so-called "farmer's syndrome" as a health indicator / 日本農村医学会雑誌

The eight subjective symptoms (shoulder stiffness, lumbago, urinary frequency at night, numbness of extremities, shortness of breath, sleep disturbance, dizziness and abdominal distension) were checked at the screening of circulatory diseases performed in a rural district in Ehime prefecture.<BR>1. The complaint rates of the eight subjective symptoms were higher in female than those in male. The influence of aging was observed in urinary frequency at night and sleep disturbance. The higher complaint rates in the agricultural workers were not evident in the subjective symptoms except lumbago.<BR>2. Factor analysis indicated that the eight subjective symptoms were constituted by (1) fatigue of circulatory system, (2) fatigue of musculoskeletal system and (3) aging effect.<BR>3. The higher complaint rates were observed in these diagnosed as circulatory diseases, musculoskeletal diseases or gynecological diseases. The correlations between the eight subjective symptoms and the laboratory findings were not apparent. The result of path analysis indicated that the eight subjective symptoms were independently referable to the presence of illness.<BR>4. The eight subjective symtoms were considered considered to be to evaluate health status of inhabitants in rural district.