On October 1, 2004, we began postoperative home visits to patients who had been put under general anesthesia.In the initial period, there were not a few patients who went unnoticed as only their names were put in their papers for postoperative home visits. In light of this situation, we performed a questionnaire survey on the necessity of postoperative home visits with 23 nurses picked up as respondents.Of them, 15 nurses (65%) said they thought it necessary to put the paper in the due form. For improvements in the form, we decided to add another item - that is, information on the checkup of the skin. Twenty-one nurses (92%) said they thought postoperative home visits necessary, as they were much interested in the postoperative conditions of patients.As we had designated nurses in charge of postoperative home visits, the number of patients to whom postoperative home visits were not made was on the decrease. The designation of nurses in charge of postoperative home visits and the changes made in the form proved useful in our endeavor to firmly establish the system of posterative home visits.
Postoperative Period ; System ; Firm ; House Call ; checkup

The patient was a 61-year-old man. He was diagnosed as having dermatomyositis-pulmonary fibrosis in February 2005. Immediately home oxygen therapy (HOT9L/min.) and home visiting care were commenced. Since the patient had difficulty in breathing due to chronic respiratory failure, cyclophosphamide, an immunosuppressant drug, was given to him intravenously when a physician made house calls. The results were satisfactory.The Community Care Department of our hospital has a staff of physicians who exclusively provide home medical services and keep track of patients' health state systemically. Nurses in the Home Visit Care Station and the Home Care Support Center provide health services in patients' homes including nursing care and care of caretakers.The physician who visited the patient's home in this case belonged to the Department of Internal Medicine as a specialist of collagen diseases teamed up with the community care department staff to give home medical treatment using the immunosuppressant drips. This was a good example of the successful home medical treatment and care for a patient who was unable to go to hospital because of chronic respiratory failure.
Chronic ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Patients ; Pulmonary Fibrosis ; House Call