Objective : The purpose of this clinical research was to create an assessment for patients with muscle disease who wish to continue driving by investigating their motor function and driving experience. Methods : Twenty-four patients with muscle disease who visited our hospital from December 2009 to April 2010 were enrolled in our research. For patients who were still driving, physiatrists evaluated their motor functions, examined simulated driving motions and recorded their driving capabilities and techniques, their ability to get into and out of the vehicle and their ability to store and remove their wheelchairs. Patients no longer driving were asked why they had given up driving. Results : Fifteen patients who continued driving had enough upper limb strength and could simulate driving motions, though the location and degree of their muscle weakness were variable. Five of fifteen drove with the aid of a hand-operated brake and accelerator. Seven needed personal assistance: three to get into and out of the vehicles, six to store and remove wheelchairs. The nine patients who had stopped driving reported that the primary reason for discontinuing driving was that they recognized their muscles were insufficient to control the vehicle. Conclusions : We propose to evaluate muscle strength and to test simulated driving motions when assessing patients with muscle disease. A hand-operated brake and accelerator is efficient for patients with lower limb muscle weakness. However, since no efficient automobile modifications are available for those patients who cannot get into and get out of their vehicles or store and remove their wheelchairs by themselves, we suggest arranging personal assistance for such patients.

With aging of inpatients, the prevention of falls in old people is an important task nurses have to take upon themselves. In our hospital, we have been tackling the task in earnest by utilizing a fall prevention assessment score sheet. Our efforts have resulted in changes in the attitude of nurses as shown by a survey. (1) By working on the nursing plan with use of the fall prevention assessment score sheet, nurses have become alert to risk factors for falling. (2) They have realized that assistance suited to the needs of each patient is vital and that collaboration between patients, their families and hospital staff contributes to the prevention of falls greatly. (3) The use of an intervention manual has made it easy for nurses to cope with falls and consequent injury. (4) To share information of every factor for falling among the nursing staff has added greatly to the prevention of the recurrence of the fall.
Prevention ; Fall, NOS ; Surveys ; Attitude ; Knowledge acquisition using a method of assessment

  In 2008, Japanese Society of Drug Informatics (JASDI) organized the Future Vision Committee (the Committee) to propose the essential focus of drug informatics.  To explore a future vision about the drug information sciences, it was necessary to collect a variety of opinions widely from researchers.  Therefore, at the 11^th annual meeting of JASDI in July 5-6, 2008, the Committee convened a workshop to extract problems in the researches of drug informatics by using KJ method and evaluated the contents.  The major problems raised were “the field of drug informatics is too broad” and “there is no definition and/or no system of the drug informatics”.  Related problems raised are the shortness of the history and lack of originality in the study.  From different viewpoints, it was also pointed out that the methodology of the research is not well established and no systematic education is provided.  Taken together, major problems in drug informatics are concluded to be the lack of definition and the lack of systematizations, and will be solved to a certain extent by defining the outcome of the researches in drug informatics.