Introduction: This study assessed the validity and reliability of the Japanese Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure in community pharmacist consultations.Methods: We administered an anonymous self-questionnaire about patient consultations with pharmacists to 11 community pharmacies between November 2018 and March 2019.Results: A total of 224 patients completed the questionnaire. Low numbers of missing values and 'not applicable' responses suggested high face validity of the Japanese CARE Measure. Factor analysis resulted in a single solution and internal reliability was high (Cronbach's alpha 0.943). Construct validity was supported by a significant relationship (Spearman's rho 0.43, p<0.01) with the patient's satisfaction with the consultation.Conclusion: The Japanese CARE Measure may be valid and reliable in a community pharmacy setting.

Although cardiac rehabilitation (CR) has been shown to improve exercise tolerance and prognosis in patients with cardiovascular diseases, there remains low participation in outpatient CR. This may be attributed to the patients’ busy schedules and difficulty in visiting the hospital due to distance, cost, avoidance of exercise, and severity of coronary disease. To overcome these challenges, many countries are exploring the possibility of remote CR. Specifically, there is increasing attention on the development of remote CR devices, which allow transmission of vital information to the hospital via a remote CR application linked to a wearable device for telemonitoring by dedicated hospital staff. In addition, remote CR programs can support return to work after hospitalization. Previous studies have demonstrated the effects of remote CR on exercise tolerance. However, the preventive effects of remote CR on cardiac events and mortality remain controversial. Thus, safe and effective remote CR requires exercise risk stratification for each patient, telenursing by skilled staff, and multidisciplinary interventions. Therefore, quality assurance of telenursing and multi-disciplinary interventions will be essential for remote CR. Remote CR may become an important part of cardiac management in the future. However, issues such as costeffectiveness and insurance coverage still persist.