Background: Recognizing the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration during treatment family conferences is increasing in critical care settings. We aimed to elucidate how critical care specialist nurses engage in the family conference process in terms of the actual discussions held, the recommended topics, and their perspectives regarding transfer of critical care patients to general wards. Methods: This self-administered nationwide survey was conducted between October and December 2020, targeting a random sample of 740 critical care specialist nurses. An anonymous questionnaire based on established guidelines and pilot tests was used to assess the level of engagement with the family conference process, content of discussions, considerations regarding withholding or withdrawing treatment, and perspectives concerning patient care location and discontinuation of life-sustaining treatments among the surveyed nurses. Results: Of the 396 returned questionnaires (response rate, 51.9%), 384 were analyzed. Less than 35% of the nurses consistently participated in family conferences and ensured that decisions regarding withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatments were re-evaluated following the conferences. Discussions focused predominantly on the patients’ physical aspects, whereas the nurses believed that patients’ values and preferences should be discussed. More than 70% of the nurses supported transferring patients from critical care settings to general wards for end-of-life scenarios. Conclusions Critical care specialist nurses in Japan exhibit limited engagement in family conferences and often fail to address their patients’ values and preferences. Educational programs and enhanced interprofessional collaborations are warranted to improve nurse involvement in family conferences and ensure continuity of care between critical care and general ward settings.

Purpose: Palliative care implementation should take into account the perceptions and acceptability of healthcare providers. This study aimed to identify physicians’ perceptions of palliative care and barriers to palliative care practice in the critical care setting. Methods: A nationwide, self-administered questionnaire was distributed to physicians working in intensive care units, and free-text data were qualitatively analyzed. Results: The questionnaire was sent to 873 respondents, and 436 responded (50% response rate). Of these, 95 (11%) who responded to the open-ended sections were included in the analysis. Conclusion: Japanese physicians working in ICUs recognized that palliative care was their role and practiced it as part of their usual care. They felt, however, that the practice was difficult and not sufficient. Barriers to practice included the lack of human resources and availability of palliative care teams, and the lack of uniformity in the perception of palliative care in the critical care setting.

Objective: Caffeine may cause dependence and sleep disturbance, and interact with psychotropic drugs.　Therefore, the caffeine intake of patients with mental disorders should be monitored.　However, in Japan, there is no report on the effects of caffeine in mental disease patients or on their caffeine intake.　Therefore, we conducted a questionnaire survey to clarify the perception of caffeine for psychiatric outpatients.Methods: We conducted an anonymous survey on caffeine recognition for outpatients at 8 medical institutions that advocate psychiatry.Results: We collected questionnaires from 180 people.　The knowledge of foods containing caffeine tended to be high in those who had a positive attitude toward caffeine.　More than 90% of those surveyed knew that coffee contains caffeine, but cocoa and jasmine tea were recognized by less than 25%.　Of those surveyed, 39.4% consumed caffeine‐containing beverages at night.　In addition, the rate of consumption of caffeine‐containing beverages tended to be higher at night because they had a positive attitude toward caffeine.Conclusion: The knowledge and intake situation of caffeine by patients with mental disorders differed depending on their interests and way of thinking about caffeine.　As caffeine intake may influence psychiatric treatment, correct knowledge regarding caffeine is important.