On the nursing front, there is no limit to demands for care services. Although efforts are being made to train the staff, letters from former inpatients showed that they left the hospital with a lot of discontent. To have them leave the hospital pleasantly, we have started holding an interview with the inpatients just before they are discharged since 2000. To grasp the results of the interviews accomplished during the 2-years period after the implementation of this program, we carried out a survey by distributing questionnaires to the nursing staff. At the same time, we conducted a survey on expatients and analyzed what they actually told the interviewers. It was found that about 60% of the outgoing patients were interviewed.More than 89% of the ex-patients surveyed said that they could calm themselves after they realized the nurses understood what it is to be painful. Asked if they want the interview to be continued, 94% answered in the affirmative. Meanwhile, many nurses said that what the patients told them was encouraging and gave them an incentive to carry out their duty. Some said that they were given an opportunity to reflect on their past conduct. All in all, we found that the interviews had the healing effect on the nursing staff as well as the patients.
Interview ; nursing therapy ; Discharge from hospital ; Effective ; Surveys

Many researchers report that cigarette smoking by parents adversely affects their children. We carried out a survey about cigarette puffing by distributing questionnaires to mothers of sucklings and little children. The survey found that mothers and family members were not well aware of the health consequences of passive smoking. It was also found that children frequently exposed to smoking are at high risk of contracting infections of the respiratory tract. The average weight at birth was less in babies borned by smoking mothers than by those who do not smoke. Furthermore, it was revealed that a larger number of smoking mothers had given birth to low birth weight infants than nonsmoking mothers had.
These findings suggested that passive cigarette smoking is linked to low birth weight and respiratory tract infection. We think it is incumbent on us, health-care professionals, to bring home to mothers and the rest of the family members how serious the consequences of passive smoking are.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is considered to be involved in the pathogenesis of functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID). However, the prevalence and clinical conditions of SIBO in patients with FGID remain to be fully elucidated. Here, we examined the frequency of SIBO in patients with refractory FGID. METHODS: We prospectively enrolled patients with refractory FGID based on Rome III criteria. A glucose hydrogen breath test (GHBT) was performed using a gas analyzer after an overnight fast, with breath hydrogen concentration measured at baseline and every 15 minutes after administration of glucose for a total of 3 hours. A peak hydrogen value > or = 10 ppm above the basal value between 60 and 120 minutes after administration of glucose was diagnosed as SIBO. RESULTS: A total of 38 FGID patients, including 11 with functional dyspepsia (FD), 10 with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and 17 with overlapping with FD and IBS, were enrolled. Of those, 2 (5.3%) were diagnosed with SIBO (one patient diagnosed with FD; the other with overlapping FD and IBS). Their symptoms were clearly improved and breath hydrogen levels decreased to normal following levofloxacin administration for 7 days. CONCLUSIONS: Two patients initially diagnosed with FD and IBS were also diagnosed with SIBO as assessed by GHBT. Although the frequency of SIBO is low among patients with FGID, it may be important to be aware of SIBO as differential diagnosis when examining patients with refractory gastrointestinal symptoms, especially bloating, as a part of routine clinical care.
Adult ; Blind Loop Syndrome ; Breath Tests ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Dyspepsia ; Gastrointestinal Diseases* ; Glucose ; Humans ; Hydrogen ; Irritable Bowel Syndrome ; Levofloxacin ; Prevalence ; Prospective Studies