Objective: With the Internet serving as a major source of medical information, the abundance of pharmaceutical content across media and digital platforms raises concerns about the impact of inappropriate or misleading information on public health. This study aimed to develop a comprehensive, practical evaluation indicator to assess the reliability and quality of pharmaceutical websites, targeting general consumers in Japan.Methods: We systematically reviewed existing domestic and international criteria for health information quality to develop evaluation indicators. Based on this review, a preliminary set of indicators was drafted and refined using a modified Delphi process involving six experts in pharmaceutical and medical communications. This process incorporated established frameworks, including the Health on the Net (HON) Code, JAMA Benchmarks, and the Japanese eHealth Ethics Code. A validated set of indicators was finalized after four iterative rounds of review and feedback.Results: The final tool comprises 16 evaluation items across three categories: (1) Screening Criteria (4 items), which eliminate websites with misleading content, public indecency, or political/religious affiliations; (2) Website Evaluation Criteria (5 items), assessing operational transparency, contact availability, advertisement distinction, and policy disclosure; and (3) Content Evaluation Criteria (7 items), addressing clarity, accuracy, update frequency, source citation, legal compliance, and balanced risk-benefit information. Each item was rated using a primarily binary (yes/no) scale with intermediate options, such as “partially applicable” or “not applicable.” The tool reflects expert consensus and complies with Japan’s ethical and regulatory standards.Conclusion: This tool facilitates the appropriate dissemination of pharmaceutical information and supports users in identifying trustworthy sources. By explicitly incorporating legal compliance and editorial transparency as evaluation criteria, it encourages higher standards among healthcare professionals and information providers, potentially improving the quality of pharmaceutical communication.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine information quality by quantitatively evaluating newspaper stories on drug therapy using the “Media Doctor” instrument.Methods: A database search was conducted to extract newspaper stories on drug therapy published between July 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017. Two evaluators independently evaluated each story using the “Media Doctor” instrument. Each of the 10 evaluation criteria were rated as “satisfactory” or “not satisfactory.” When the content of the story was not suitable for the evaluation criteria, it was regarded as “not applicable”.Results: Fifty-nine news stories (Asahi: 13, Mainichi: 8, Nikkei: 8, Sankei: 14, Yomiuri: 16) were included. The median number of evaluation criteria that the two evaluators judged as “satisfactory” was 5. The proportions of stories that the two evaluators judged as satisfactory were “1. availability,” 73%; “2. novelty,” 66%; “3. alternatives,” 39%; “4. disease mongering,” 58%; “5. evidence,” 32%; “6. quantification of benefits,” 31%; “7. harm,” 41%; “8. cost,” 22%; “9. sources of information/conflict of interest,” 12%; and “10. headline,” 66%. Conversely, the proportions of stories judged as “not satisfactory” were “1. availability,” 0%; “2. novelty,” 5%; “3. alternatives,” 12%; “4. disease mongering,” 8%; “5. evidence,” 24%; “6. quantification of benefits,” 29%; “7. harm,” 41%; “8. cost,”44%; “9. sources of information/conflict of interest,” 32%; and “10. headline,” 12%.Conclusion: These results suggest that the quality of newspaper stories are insufficient as drug information in terms of the validity of its scientific evidence.

Following the revision of nursing care remuneration in FY 2015, our health service facility for the elderly made improved support available based on the outcomes of rehabilitation case conferences (RCCs) we convened for users of visiting rehabilitation services. In this study, we conducted a survey to investigate the implementation status of the RCC outcomes by respondents,including service users, their family members, and healthcare professionals,at our facility and the changes observed in service users who participated in the RCCs.Survey items inquired about the basic attributes of service users, RCC topics discussed, status of participation in the RCCs by occupation,and independence in activities of daily living (ADL) of elderly disabled people.The topics covered in the RCCs were classified using the International Classification of Functioning,Disability,and Health.In total,85 of 108 people who needed nursing care (34 men, 51 women; mean age 81.4±9.4 years;mean duration of service use 16.3 months) participated in the RCCs.The majority of topics covered in the RCCs concerned ADL and environmental factors,and more than half of the respondents participated in RCCs several times.Because ADL and environmental factors were discussed most,it can be said that the RCC concerning visiting rehabilitation services for users living at home is an effective means of expanding ADL and instrumental ADL. An advantage of holding RCCs is that the users themselves can clarify the current status and future goals. Also, from the service provider perspective, multidisciplinary cooperation becomes easier and helps to further improve support for users.

Based on progress in home visits for rehabilitation and health guidance since 1979, the trend after the Nursing Care Insurance Law was enforced in 2000 was investigated. In home visits for rehabilitation, cooperation with many related organizations is required, and reorganization of the network built before the enforcement of the said Law is needed. The role of each home visiter for rehabilitation is being formed and cooperation with care managers is being strengthened. The tendency that the participation of the local government may decrease can't be denied. Connection with the hospital and the local government should be maintained, and a new community-based network needs to be built.
Rehabilitation aspects ; Community ; Management ; network ; Encounter due to convalescence

A follow up study was made on patients who were admitted into our hospital because of stroke or fracture of the neck of the thighbone before and after the Nursing Care Insurance Law was enforced. The study found that there was a salient tendency for the number of days the patients stayed in hospital to increase and for the rate of discharge from hospital to the patients home to decrease.
As the nursing care insurance system came to stay, one local government after another was pulling out the functional training work which had been conducted as one from of the rehabilitation projects. In place of municipalities, nursing care service contractors were taking on such health service work as home visits for rehabilitation, and outside visits for nursing and rehabilitation. In the future, it would be necessary to establish a network enouth to promote health and welfare services including the provision of medical and rehabilitation equipment and the repair of houses.

High-quality terminal care cannot be given without good communication and understanding among patients, their family members and health as well as medical professionals.Recently, we have taken a questionnaire survey on new inpatients in our hospital to sound them out on their thinkings about hospital care, and examined the findings along with the validity of survey.Many respondents including those contracting either benign or malignant diseases wished to be keptposted on what they are really up against and to partake in the decision-making process before treatment plans are put into practice. The recent questionnaire survey has proved to be worthwhile as a tool to know the wishes of hospitalized patients and suggested an effective way to promote the practice of obtaining informed consent before specific test and therapautic procedure.