Like the "day hospices" for cancer patients in England, Japanese day care services may be an effective resource for home-based palliative care. A questionnaire survey was done to investigate what medical services are available to cancer patients in existing day care centers in Japan. Methods: In November 2004, the questionnaire was sent to 108 day care centers in Okayama Prefecture, and there were 49 responses. Results: Out of the 49 day care centers, 36 had been used by cancer patients, 28 (56%) of those centers actually had cancer patients attending at the time of survey, and 4 (8%) of those centers provided special programs for cancer patients. The results of the questionnaire showed that day care centers should provide the following services to enhance domiciliary palliative care for cancer patients: 1) medical palliative treatment; 2) medically supervised special day care services, such as bathing; 3) resting periods to meet the client's needs; 4) medical function support therapy, such as stoma-care, parenteral nutrition, and infusion; and 5) psycho-social support for the patients as well as their families. Conclusion: Existing day care centers in Japan could be effective in functioning as day hospices, similar to those that exist in England.

  In Japan, few health care professionals have a basic understanding（core competency）of the design of clinical research and statistical analysis. We developed a blended distance–learning program comprising face–to–face lectures with e–learning for busy health care professionals who work in the clinical settings to achieve core competency in clinical research. The purpose of this study was to examine the educational effects of this program.
1）Four months after the end of the program, 64％ of the participants had started to conduct clinical research.
2）This program may increase the number of research colleagues that can discuss clinical research.
3）This program could enhance the confidence（self–efficacy）of health care professionals in clinical research.