[Recent spread of home parenteral nutrition in Japan--the view of an HPN managing company].
Terumo Corporation has developed a nation wide home healthcare management system "Home-Joint," which helps hospitals to safely discharge patients early. Recently, this system mainly has been adopted with HPN (home parenteral nutrition) patients. This report evaluates 472 HPN patients who underwent the "Home-Joint" program in 1998, and also presents some issues from the standpoint of a HPN managing company. I. Profiles of HPN patients Number: 472 (female 43%, male 57%) Age: 1-104 (47% patients over 70) DIAGNOSIS: cancer 54%, others 25%, unknown 21% Infusion devices: ambulatory pump 85%, stationary pump 15%, gravity none. Therapeutic periods: average 65.6 days (1-437) for 300 patients who completed the program. II. HPN trends from 1997 to 1998 1. Increase in patients directly supported by hospitals. 2. Wider patient variation: increase in patients under 70 years old, in non-cancer patients and in longer periods (longer than 2 months). III. Issues 1. Development of hospital-clinic-pharmacy local relationship. 2. Development of devices for easier infusion control. 3. Evaluation of HPN outcome for patients' QOL and for cost-effectiveness. HPN is becoming a popular home healthcare therapy in Japan, and it requires higher level of performance by medical staff and managing companies.
Watanabe
M
M
Terumo Corporation, Home Healthcare Business Unit.
Sawai
K
K
Ono
K
K
Sekii
S
S
Takashima
T
T
D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005260:Female; D019981:Health Care Sector; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D016331:Parenteral Nutrition, Home / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards; D011788:Quality of Life