Tago Masaki, Hirata Risa, Katsuki Naoko E, Otsuka Yuki, Shimizu Taro, Sasaki Yosuke, Shikino Kiyoshi, Watari Takashi, Takahashi Hiromizu, Une Kazunobu, Naito Toshio, Otsuka Fumio, Thompson Rachel, Tazuma Susumu
Department of General Medicine, Saga University Hospital, Saga, Japan.
Department of General Medicine, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
Risk Manag Healthc Policy. 2023 Aug 21;16:1645-1651. doi: 10.2147/RMHP.S422412. eCollection 2023.
Hospitalists in Japan have been at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, contributions of Japanese hospitalists during the COVID-19 pandemic and hospitalists' awareness of crisis management education remain unclear.
We conducted a questionnaire survey to investigate the role of Japanese hospitalists during the COVID-19 pandemic. The questionnaire was conducted using email and Google Forms targeting the chairpersons of facilities certified by the Japanese Society of Hospital General Medicine (JSHGM). Members of the academic committee of the JSHGM and several hospitals conducted a narrative review and determined the questions for the survey in a discussion.
We conducted descriptive statistics based on the responses of 97 hospitals that agreed to participate in this survey. In total, 91.8% of general medicine departments in the included hospitals were involved in the medical care of COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, in 73.2% of hospitals, hospitalists were involved in infection control for COVID-19 inside or outside the hospital. Our survey revealed that Japanese hospitalists were responsible for COVID-19 treatment in over 60% of hospitals and contributed to hospital management, infection control, and vaccination. In total, 79.4% of hospitals answered that "training of personnel who can provide practical care for emerging infectious diseases is necessary", 78.4% indicated that "the establishment of an infection control system in advance to prepare emerging infectious diseases in the hospital is necessary", and 74.2% stated that "the establishment of an educational system for responding to emerging infectious diseases is necessary.".
In conclusion, during the pandemic, in addition to inpatient care, Japanese hospitalists provided outpatient care for COVID-19, which is the role of primary care physicians in other countries. Furthermore, Japanese hospitalists who experienced the COVID-19 pandemic expressed the need for personnel development and education to prepare for future emerging infectious disease pandemics.
日本的住院医师一直处于新冠疫情的前沿。然而，日本住院医师在新冠疫情期间的贡献以及他们对危机管理教育的认识仍不明确。
我们进行了一项问卷调查，以调查日本住院医师在新冠疫情期间的作用。该问卷通过电子邮件和谷歌表单对日本医院综合医学协会（JSHGM）认证机构的负责人进行。JSHGM学术委员会成员和几家医院进行了叙述性综述，并在讨论中确定了调查问题。
我们根据同意参与本次调查的97家医院的回复进行了描述性统计。在所纳入医院中，91.8%的普通内科参与了新冠患者的医疗护理。此外，在73.2%的医院中，住院医师参与了医院内外新冠感染控制。我们的调查显示，在超过60%的医院中，日本住院医师负责新冠治疗，并为医院管理、感染控制和疫苗接种做出了贡献。总共79.4%的医院回答“有必要培训能够为新发传染病提供实际护理的人员”，78.4%表示“有必要提前建立医院感染控制系统以应对新发传染病”，74.2%称“有必要建立应对新发传染病的教育系统”。
总之，在疫情期间，除了住院患者护理外，日本住院医师还为新冠患者提供门诊护理，而这在其他国家是初级保健医生的职责。此外，经历过新冠疫情的日本住院医师表示需要进行人员培养和教育，为未来新发传染病疫情做好准备。
