Generally, the adults can manage their own medications of prescribed drugs. However, medication assistance may be required in the elderly. The family plays a medication assistance, in home, which is afraid to be a burden on the family. In this study, we performed questionnaire survey to caregiver using our day-service center so that we study the actual situation of the medication assistance. From the result of the survey, 64% of caregivers were older than 60 years old. Sixty six percents of caregivers felt some kind of burdens for management of medicine, and 70% felt a burden for medication assistances. The multiple regression analysis showed that “the burden about management of the medicine” and “the degree of medication assistances” significantly affected a sense of the burden about medication assistances (p<0.01). In addition, from the free comment on the questionnaire, it was considered that some caregivers foster a sense of the burden about medication assistances by their strong sense of mission. From these results, it is shown that many caregivers felt a burden on medication assistance. It is suggested that the intervention of pharmacists can be reduce the burden of medication assistance.

Introduction : We initiated an ambulatory care training program at five community hospitals in Nagasaki, including hospitals on remote islands, for the residents of Nagasaki University Hospital. We examined the educational effect of the ambulatory care training program in meeting the achievement targets for clinical training.
Methods : The study included all residents (n=49) working in Nagasaki University Hospital in 2012. Following completion of the ambulatory care training program, the residents answered a questionnaire on the number of patients and their symptoms, inaddition to a self-assessment, and assessment by their supervisor.
Results : The mean number of patients seen was 3.29 persons / training session. The number of symptoms to be encountered, which are established by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, was positively correlated with the total number of patients seen. Although residents initially had a low rating of self-assessment on diagnosis or treatment, this rating tended to increase with time. The gap in levels on assessment of history taking, diagnosis, or treatment by residents versus those by the supervisors reduced with time in the program.
Conclusion : Our ambulatory care training program is an effective program for meeting the achievement targets in clinical training for residents.