Objective: In the management of drug information, pharmacists are required to appropriately transmit information to the corresponding medical staff.  However, it is unclear whether the transmitted information is received and utilized effectively.  In this study, we assessed the effectiveness of drug safety information transmitted to doctors by pharmacists and investigated the requirements of doctors for the transmitted drug safety information in Okayama University Hospital.
Design and Methods: We performed the assessment via questionnaire from doctors who had been sent drug safety information by electronic mail (e-mail) from January to October 2010.  The return rate and responses for the questionnaire were investigated.
Results: For the study time period, 15 cases of e-mail drug safety information transmissions occurred.  The questionnaire was sent to 204 doctors, and the recovery rate of the questionnaire was 46.1%.  Seventy-six percent of doctors who responded to the questionnaire answered that the e-mail information was useful for the clinical practice.  Among the comments, it was noted that an improvement in the content of e-mail information would allow doctors to access the required information more conveniently.
Conclusion: In this study, it was demonstrated that the majority of doctors were satisfied with the transmission of drug safety information using e-mail, although some improvement was needed.  Furthermore, it was considered that the feedback assessment and re-construction of information transmittal system were important to improve usability and availability of the drug information service.

Background: Palliative care has been advocated to be administered in the early phase of cancer treatment. However, little is known concerning the recognition of palliative care in general citizens. We have conducted promotional activities for palliative care as “Nonohana Project” since 2009. The aim of the current study was to investigate the awareness of palliative care in the general public in Okayama Prefecture. Methods: We performed telephone questionnaire survey about palliative care for a total of 600 general citizens aged 20 or over in Okayama Prefecture. This survey was conducted in 2009 and 2010, and we compared those results. Results: Two hundred twenty four people (37.3%) have heard of the phrase “palliative care” in 2009 and 219 people (36.5%) in 2010. The recognition of palliative care stayed at the same level as in the previous fiscal year. In those with a history of cancer of themselves or their family, the recognition was slightly increased (41.6% in 2009 and 43.2% in 2010). There were many people who were interested in palliative care in both 2009 (87.9%) and 2010 (86.3%). Conclusion: Our study indicated that many people still had no idea of palliative care in Okayama Prefecture, despite of our promotion and effort for 1 year. However, many were interested in palliative care, suggesting a need for continuous promotion to increase the understanding of palliative care.

Purpose: The simple conversion ratio of 1：1：1/50 between oxycodone injection (OXJ), morphine injection and fentanyl injection is used at Saga－Ken Medical Centre Koseikan. However, there are no studies on the validity of the simple conversion ratio. Methods: A total of 18 patients with opioid switching to OXJ using the simple conversion ratio were reviewed in this investigation. We surveyed the change in the numeric rating scale (NRS) and adverse effects before and after opioid switching. Result: The average period needed to reach a stable dose of OXJ was 0.6 days. The reasons of opioid switching to OXJ were the uncontrolled cancer pain in 11 patients, the impossibility of oral administration in 6 patients, the drowsiness in 1 patient. The average NRS decreased from 3.3 to 1.1 in 11 patients with uncontrolled cancer pain (p＝0.007). No obvious change in the NRS was observed in 6 patients with the impossibility of oral administration. In 18 patients, there was no significant difference in adverse effects before and after opioid switching. Conclusion: These results indicate that the simple conversion ratio could be safety for opioid switching between OXJ and other opioid in cancer pain treatment.