A questionnaire survey was carried out to clarify opinions of the medical community regarding the coexistence of duties as doctor and housewife for women doctors. Twenty-eight female and 57 male medical students (age range 21-29 years old) of Kurume University participated in this study. In addition, 5 women doctors were interviewed. Among female medical students, all hoped for marriage, and the positive responses for having children and continuing work after marriage were 93% and 96%, respectively. Among male students, 70% desired marriage with a woman doctor. It was suggested that the cooperation of husband, parents and friends was necessary for female doctors to carry out duties as both doctor and housewife.

Since 1993, our hospital has been entrusted by the Gifu Prefectural Government with the operation of the home health care system in the region. Hospital healthnurses, keeping in close contact with other medical institutions and self-goverinig bodies, have endeavored to support the health and medical care of home patients.
Initially, there was much to be desired in the way some government offices were addressing to home health care and care coordination for patients when they were discharged from hospital. These inadequacies have largely been corrected and in 1998 a comprehensive home care system came into being.
Our effort to restructure the home care system has been crowned with success in many ways. Formerly there were many cases in which individual organizations rendered services separately, but now hospitals, local medical associations and government offices have come to play on the team, which has made it possible to provide home care effectively and efficiently. Moreover, the hospital staff have become fully aware of the importance of home care.