Mori Tomoari, Deasy Yoko, Kanemoto Eri, Nakazawa Eisuke, Akabayashi Akira
Health Center, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), Okinawa 904-0495, Japan.
Department of General Medicine, University of Occupational & Environmental Health, Japan (UOEH), Fukuoka 807-8555, Japan.
Healthcare (Basel). 2022 Sep 5;10(9):1694. doi: 10.3390/healthcare10091694.
In order to understand the difficulties faced by highly skilled foreign professionals when dealing with the Japanese healthcare system and to identify the support they require therein, university health center staff members of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University conducted semi-structured interviews with faculty, staff, and students from the Institute. Data from the interviews were analyzed by subject matter analysis using a narrative-oriented approach. In total, 13 participants were interviewed, and five themes and 15 subthemes were generated from the 40 codes extracted. Although participants considered themselves to be accepting of other cultures and made little mention of the need for cultural and religious considerations that previous studies have identified as important, they reported that their experiences receiving healthcare in Japan were fraught with many difficulties. They felt that the capacity to communicate in Japanese was a prerequisite for receiving appropriate healthcare and that hospitals should assume the responsibility of providing language support. While they reported satisfaction with the easy and inexpensive access to advanced medical equipment and specialists in Japan, they also noted challenges in selecting medical institutions and departments, the flow and procedures in the hospital, and building open and direct relationships with doctors. In addition, based on the present study, people with chronic illnesses felt isolated from the community, worried about a lack of privacy, and wanted a primary care physician they could trust. In order to provide appropriate healthcare to foreigners, we require an accurate understanding of their needs, how to address these comprehensively and in a multifaceted manner, and how the communication responsibilities should be shared among the involved parties (i.e., foreign care recipients and Japanese medical professionals).
为了解高技能外国专业人员在应对日本医疗体系时所面临的困难，并确定他们在其中所需的支持，冲绳科学技术大学研究生院大学健康中心的工作人员对该研究所的教职员工和学生进行了半结构化访谈。访谈数据采用以叙事为导向的主题分析法进行分析。总共采访了13名参与者，从提取的40个编码中生成了5个主题和15个子主题。尽管参与者认为自己能够接受其他文化，很少提及先前研究中认为重要的文化和宗教考量的必要性，但他们报告称，自己在日本接受医疗服务的经历充满了诸多困难。他们认为，能用日语交流是获得适当医疗服务的先决条件，医院应承担提供语言支持的责任。虽然他们对在日本能够轻松且低成本地使用先进医疗设备和专家表示满意，但他们也指出在选择医疗机构和科室、医院的流程和手续以及与医生建立开放直接的关系方面存在挑战。此外，基于本研究，患有慢性病的人感到与社区隔离，担心缺乏隐私，并希望有一位他们可以信任的初级保健医生。为了向外国人提供适当的医疗服务，我们需要准确了解他们的需求、如何全面且多方面地满足这些需求，以及相关各方（即外国医疗接受者和日本医疗专业人员）应如何分担沟通责任。
