[Coordination and Role-Sharing between Health Care Professionals].

In recent years, people's demands for medical services are increasing and, simultaneously, the overwork of health professionals has been pointed out. It is important to establish a system with which each medical professional can show higher levels of expertise and work as a team member to provide efficient and safe medical care. For this reason, a list of medical activities which can be performed by not only doctors but also other health professionals was devised by the Director General of the Health Policy Bureau on December 28th, 2007, as the "Promotion of role-sharing between doctors and other medical professionals, clerical staff, etc." In August 2009 the "Committee for the Promotion of Team Approach to Medical Care" was established and it reviewed the situation of collaboration and cooperation with doctors and other medical professionals. In the report "Promotion of Team Approach to Medical Care", which was summarized on March 19th, 2009, "Team Approach to Medical Care" was defined as "appropriate medical care provided by various medical professionals by sharing information and purposes of care while cooperating and complementing each other based on expertise." In May 2010, the "Promotion Council of Team Approach to Medical Care" was established to discuss the scope of practice for nurses and other medical professionals. As a result the council suggested to: 1) Institutionalize a training system for nurses who provide Specified Acts (a part of Assist in Medical Care), 2) Reconsider the scope of practice for radiological technologists, 3) Reconsider the scope of practice for laboratory technicians, and 4) Reconsider the implementation system for dental hygienists. We realized these policies in June 2014.