A taste survey was conducted on decocted Kampo medicines, and the strength and weakness of the taste on each decoction expressed numerically. This data was used to construct a decocted Kampo medicine taste rank table and a table summarizing the tastes for the different Kampo decoctions.
The taste rank table and the summary table can be used to know the taste of the Kampo formula being administered to the Patient, and are therefore thought to be useful in Kampo treatment and as administration guidelines.

In general hospitals or clinics, medical treatment and instruction in medical therapies and nursing are carried out by the medical staff (doctors, pharmacists and nurses) on hand. It is necessary to understand overall trends in patient illness, in addition to personal information, in order to practice medical care comprehensively. For these reasons we analyzed popular medicines, patient make up, and major disease distributions at our own Kampo clinic institute, for patients admitted since 2001.
34% of our patients were male and 66% were female. The majority of these patients were between 20 to 30 years old or, 50 to 70 years old. There were few patients, either male or female, in their 40s. As for major disease distribution, atopic dermatitis was most common among both males and females. Next in line were cold sensations and endometriosis, for females, while respiratory organ diseases such as bronchial asthma or nasal inflammation, and Alzheimer's disease were most common, for males.
Among major disease types, atopic dermatitis was treated with Oren-gedoku-to (JTDN: Japanese Traditional Drug Name) and Ogi-kenchu-to (JTDN), while diabetes was treated with Hachi-mi-gan (JTDN) and Seishin-renshi-in (JTDN). Cold sensations were treated with Toki-shigyaku-ka-goshuyu-shokyo-to (JTDN) and Toki-shakuyaku-san (JTDN), while hypertension was treated with Cho-to-san and Saiko-ka-ryukotsu-borei-to (JTDN).
The present report contains information useful for diagnosis with Kampo medicines, as well as instruction in the nursing and use of these medications by doctors, pharmacists and nursing staff. This report may be utilized in order to administer appropriate medical care for patients.

Recently, the number of physicians using Kampo (Japanese traditional herbal) medicines has been increasing in Japan, and it is becoming more common for pharmacists to dispense Kampo medicines. As Kampo medicines become more popular, in addition to extract formulae, the use of decocting formulae that are more suited to each patient's predisposition and symptoms has increased. Therefore, more pharmacists are dispensing such decocting formulae. However, dispensing decocting formulae can be a complicated task. The risk of dispensing errors is not small. In present paper, we examined preventive measures based on investigations of errors involving decocting formulae in our Kampo clinic. From 1990 to 1999, there were 54 cases in which errors were found after patients received their medicines, and 44 of these cases were dispensing errors. To prevent such errors, in addition to having the knowledge of Kampo medicine and medicinal herbs that is needed for dispensing decocting formulae, it is also necessary to understand the contents of the prescription. The most important preventive measures are to re-inspect the weight and contents of the prescription after preparing it, and to do a final inspection of the medicine contents with the patient. It is expected that this report will play a role in preventing dispensing errors of Kampo medicines by pharmacists.