[A questionnaire survey on daily medical care problems at special schools for severely neurologically impaired students in southern Fukuoka prefecture].
With increasing numbers of children having severe motor and intellectual disabilities, there is growing demand for daily medical care such as tube feeding and sputum suctioning in special schools. We devised a questionnaire survey for special school teachers investigating the need for daily medical care in four schools in southern Fukuoka prefecture. One-hundred fifty-two out of 633 (24%) students needed medical care; specifically, 38 of 152 (25%) needed tube feeding and 41 of 152 (27%) required sputum suctioning. Such patients lived in their houses, hospitals or medical centers for the severely disabled. Mothers whose children commuted from home had to go to school themselves to provide medical care for their children, such as sputum suctioning. School teachers were worried about their students' feeding difficulties and respiratory disorders. More support for teachers to care for students is needed and provision of medical care under supervision of school nurses and doctors should be promoted.
Motai
Naoko
N
Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Fukuoka. mawatari@k8.dion.ne.jp
Karukaya
Shigeru
S
Yamashita
Yushiro
Y
Takashima
Sachio
S
Matsuishi
Toyojiro
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019988:Children with Disabilities; D004519:Education, Special; D004750:Enteral Nutrition / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012572:School Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires