nakamura sayuri

This pre–post study aimed to determine whether interprofessional education (IPE) combining online and in-person instruction enhanced medical students’ empathy. The IPE program was conducted during the academic years 2022 and 2023 for medical (n = 240) and other healthcare students. Subjects discussed a case scenario involving a patient with chronic myeloid leukemia, sharing their ideas within their team and with other teams. The medical students’ empathy was assessed before and after the IPE program using the Japanese version of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy for Health Professions Students (JSE-HPS). Medical students provided written responses to the question, “What do you think is necessary for the care of patients with cancer, besides medical skills and knowledge?” Empathy-related terms were identified using frequency and co-occurrence analyses. The frequencies before and after the IPE were compared. The median JSE-HPS score rose from 98.0 to 114.0 (p < 0.001, Wilcoxon signed-rank test). The frequency of words categorized as demonstrating empathy increased from 37.9% to 52.9% after the IPE (p < 0.01, chi-square test). Our hybrid IPE program enhanced medical students’ empathy, which was supported by both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Japanese Academy of Nursing Science (JANS) and the Japanese Pharmacological Society (JPS) have been conducting human interaction at each other's scientific meeting symposia in a home-and-away fashion since 2018. JANS and JPS have been working on a joint scientific project, "Scoping Review: Insulin Balls" since 2021. At the 95th Annual Meeting of the JPS held in 2022, we reported from a nursing perspective on the theme of "Assessment and preventive care of insulin balls from a scoping review". Subcutaneous injection into insulin balls has been reported to cause poor blood glucose control. Therefore, it is important to prevent insulin balls. In this study, we had the research questions, "What methods are available for assessment of the insulin injection site?" and "What is the care to prevent induration and how effective is it?" and conducted a scoping review. Regarding methods of injection site assessment, most of the literature identified the injection site by palpation, visual examination, and ultrasonography. About the preventive care, there were some reports of insulin balls occurring because patients have been injecting insulin at the same site, even though healthcare professionals instructed them to avoid the same site. Some of the literature had specific teaching methods such as hand site rotation and calendar injection method, and they were reported effective. In the future, we plan to proceed with the review including care after the development of insulin balls.