Background: With the marked changes occurring in the medical field, such as rapid population aging, the frequency of one‐dose package use by medication‐dispensing services is increasing.　Pharmaceutical companies promote the development of pharmaceutical products that can be identified based on their color, size, and imprinted information to reduce one‐dose packaging errors and difficulties in tablet identification.　However, there have not been any studies about the effectiveness of such measures for aiding the identification of tablets in the clinical setting.　Therefore, we examined the effects of imprinting on the ease of identification of tablets and capsules.Methods: The study was conducted over a 3‐month period and involved 39 pharmacists aged under 40.　The times they needed to transcribe the characters imprinted on each tablet/capsule were measured.Results: The time needed to identify a tablet was significantly shortened by kana printing (p<0.01), whereas more time was required to identify a capsule when the text color was similar to that of the capsule.　The observed transcription errors included ‘inaccurately transcribing alphanumeric characters' and ‘omitting units or other information.'Discussion: These results suggest that kana printing is effective at increasing the ease of tablet/capsule identification, which is also affected by the color of the printed text.

An 82-year-old woman was transferred to our hospital due to an abrupt back pain. She exhibited a cardiac tamponade and her CT angiography revealed Stanford type-A acute aortic dissection without abdominal extension. Emergent surgery for partial arch replacement was performed. After a few days of stable postoperative course, she suffered 38 degrees fever with an elevated inflammatory response and complained of a slight abdominal pain. Her CT scan revealed an intra-abdominal abscess with a small intestine necrosis. Emergent surgery for partial small intestine resection was performed. Her postoperative course was stable and she was discharged to a rehabilitation hospital 52 days after the first operation.

Non-occlusive mesenteric ischemia (NOMI) after cardiovascular surgery is a disease with a poor prognosis that is difficult to diagnose and treat. We report a case of NOMI diagnosed and treated immediately after open heart surgery. A 77-year-old man was admitted to our hospital due to heart failure. Echocardiography showed the diagnosis of severe aortic stenosis. He underwent surgery for the replacement of the aortic valve. After surgery, the hemodynamics became unstable and lactate continued to rise. Contrast abdominal computed tomography revealed a smaller SMV sign and ischemic area in the intestinal wall. We suspected NOMI, and continuous intravenous administration of prostaglandin was started. Angiography revealed scattered vascular stenosis in the superior and inferior mesenteric arteries, which led to the diagnosis of NOMI, and selective infusion of papaverine hydrochloride was started. Thereafter, hemodynamic improvement was observed and the patient was able to survive. To facilitate early diagnosis and treatment of NOMI, it is important to establish a protocol at the time of onset of illness to ensure smooth treatment.