Annual Report 2020
Supportive Care Center
Koichi Goto, Sadamoto Zenda, Miki Kondo, Hatoe Sakamoto, Yoko Iida, Kanji Ebina, Nahoko Kaneko, Ayako Shimakua, Tokiko Suzuki, Erika Sekine, Emi Takayama, Fumie Hashimoto, Tomoko Maekawa, Chieka Yoshida, Emiko Sugisaka, Miwa Yamauchi, Yuko Teshigawara
Introduction
The Supportive Care Center was established as an organization to provide, in addition to conventional consultation support, positive and comprehensive support from a variety of professional occupations for actual or potential physical, mental, and social problems that cancer patients and their families confront. Our main activities are the establishment of a continuous support system for patients and their families, the enhancement of a home care support system, and the promotion of community cooperation for early palliative care.
Research activities
1. Consultation support/community medicine cooperation
In 2020, we received 6,011 (up 2% over 2019) new consultations. Among them, 5,178 (86.1%) were from patients who had received medical treatment in our hospital, or their families, and 883 (13.9%) were from patients who had received medical treatment at other medical institutions, or their families (Table 1). In addition, 1,072 telephone consultations were received in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Table 1. Details of the consultation support provided in 2020
Since 2014, we had been organizing and conducting multidisciplinary collaborative programs aimed at improving the quality of life of patients diagnosed with cancer as well as the patients’ families. However, in 2020, suspended these programs to prevent the spread of COVID-19. We responded to this situation by conducting online classes in March 2021. These classes were initially limited to eight programs, which yielded positive results in the fiscal year 2020. We plan to organize further online programs in the future.
We also held an online meeting for local medical and welfare workers, providing them with a suitable platform for the exchange of information. One such meeting with 204 attendees was organized in 2020.
2. Employment support
Working in collaboration with Hello Work as well as with licensed social insurance labor consultants and occupational health support centers, we have extended support for a total of 458 cases with the aim of facilitating a balance between work and treatment for patients with cancer.
3. Prevention program to improve job turnover rate for cancer patients
In the fiscal year 2020, the project was selected for “Research on the practical application of work continuity and return-to-work programs for the realization of decent work for patients with cancer” (subsidized by Science and Technology Research Grants from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). With the aim of facilitating the nationwide spread of programs to support a balance between work and cancer treatment—a plan whose efficacy has been established by previous research—we have started developing of a website for use by patients, families, doctors, and business owners.