Kampo medicines have been used for treatment by an increasing number of doctors in recent years, and are becoming more frequently prescribed in combination with Western drugs. In the present study, we conducted a questionnaire of outpatients at the Kampo Clinic of Keio University Hospital in order to determine their perceptions and compliance regarding Kampo medicines.Ninety eight percent of patients used Kampo medicines in granular form, and approximately 30% of these patients reported difficulty in taking medicine due to reasons such as “bad taste”. Sixty percent of patients used Kampo medicines three times daily. Patients most often forgot to take afternoon doses, and so desired doses once daily. Furthermore, the same number of patients preferred Kampo medicines in tablet form as those who preferred Kampo medicines in granular form.The present findings clarified patients' perceptions toward Kampo medicines. Doctors and pharmacists must provide suitable treatment for patients by recognizing their perceptions of Kampo medicines.
Medicine, Kampo ; Clinic ; Use of ; percent ; therapeutic aspects

BACKGROUND: We established the Microvascular Research Center Training Program (MRCP) to help trainee surgeons acquire and develop microsurgical skills. Medical students were recruited to undergo the MRCP to assess the effectiveness of the MRCP for trainee surgeons. METHODS: Twenty-two medical students with no prior microsurgical experience, who completed the course from 2005 to 2012, were included. The MRCP comprises 5 stages of training, each with specific passing requirements. Stages 1 and 2 involve anastomosing silicone tubes and blood vessels of chicken carcasses, respectively, within 20 minutes. Stage 3 involves anastomosing the femoral artery and vein of live rats with a 1-day patency rate of >80%. Stage 4 requires replantation of free superficial inferior epigastric artery flaps in rats with a 7-day success rate of >80%. Stage 5 involves successful completion of one case of rat replantation/transplantation. We calculated the passing rate for each stage and recorded the number of anastomoses required to pass stages 3 and 4. RESULTS: The passing rates were 100% (22/22) for stages 1 and 2, 86.4% (19/22) for stage 3, 59.1% (13/22) for stage 4, and 55.0% (11/20) for stage 5. The number of anastomoses performed was 17.2+/-12.2 in stage 3 and 11.3+/-8.1 in stage 4. CONCLUSIONS: Majority of the medical students who undertook the MRCP acquired basic microsurgical skills. Thus, we conclude that the MRCP is an effective microsurgery training program for trainee surgeons.
Animals ; Blood Vessels ; Chickens ; Epigastric Arteries ; Femoral Artery ; Humans ; Microsurgery ; Program Evaluation ; Rats ; Replantation ; Silicones ; Students, Medical ; Tissue Transplantation ; Veins

At the 71st Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for Oriental Medicine in August 2021, we conducted a special program focusing on education in Kampo medicine, “Pre-graduate and post-graduate Kampo medicine education for the next generation.” As part of this project, we directed a symposium on the model core curriculum (core curriculum) in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and nursing. The core curriculum in these fields includes Kampo education. Each institution shall promote education in accordance with the core curriculum, considering the characteristics of the field and the circumstances of the educational institution. We introduced the core curriculum in each field, and summarized and reported the current status of Kampo education in the field, points to note and suggestions for multidisciplinary cooperation, issues related to clinical practice and lack of educators, and future prospects.