The number of elderly diabetic patients has continued to increase year by year. Home-visit nursing care is beneficial to homebound elderly diabetic patients and there is a large number of senior citizens utilizing this form of health service. We conducted a questionnaire survey of home-visit nursing care of elderly diabetic patients. Those queried were participants in the diabetes workshop. Eighty-five of them responded to our questionnaire.The results showed that 87% of the respondents experienced care of diabetic patients and acute complications of hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia as well. It was also found that many home helpers extended assistance in drug compliance, indicating that home helpers play an important role in the medical care of elderly diabetic patients.On the other hand, many problems became apparent such as lack of observation of foot care, lack of knowledge of methods of treating hypoglycemia, and inadequate observation of drug compliance due to the limited availability of home visit time.Training and collaboration of local home-visit nursing care personnel are considered necessary in the future in order to improve on the home care of elderly diabetic patients.
Elderly ; Care given by nurses ; Questionnaires ; Home ; Surveys

AIMTo perform quality control studies on testicular volume measurements for a multi-center epidemiological study of male reproductive function.

METHODSWe constructed a data matrix with a balanced assignment for 2 consecutive days by ten investigators (andrological career: 4-21 years) from five institutions and 12 male volunteers aged 20-26 years. Testicular volume was measured by Prader's orchidometer. A skilled technician also performed an ultrasound estimate of testicular volume.

RESULTSA statistically significant inter-investigator variation was found for both testes (P < 0.05). In addition, there was a statistically significant investigator-by-volunteer interaction in testicular volume measurement (P < 0.01). However, there was no statistically significant difference in the two measurements performed on consecutive days for either testis. The testicular volumes for both the right and left testes as estimated by ultrasonography were smaller than results using the orchidometer. However, there was no statistical significance (P > 0.05). The difference in experiences of the investigators did not significantly correlate with accuracy of measurements in either testis.

CONCLUSIONThe present study revealed significant differences in the results of estimation of testicular volume among the ten investigators, but intra-investigator variation was not considerable. Improved training and proper standardization of the measurement will be necessary before starting a multi-center study based on an andrological examination.

Adult ; Andrology ; Humans ; Male ; Observer Variation ; Reproducibility of Results ; Testis ; anatomy & histology