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| Opinions from Stakeholders |
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It takes a team of professionals to truly benefit patients |
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  e-book format (Environmental and Social Report 2009) |
(The interview was published in Environmental and Social Report 2009.)
Eisai invites stakeholders to provide feedback, encouraging them to share their impressions and expectations of the Eisai Group.
Their valuable input is used to help Eisai realize its hhc philosophy, and their opinions and suggestions help shape future initiatives. |
Yoko Takahashi
Director, Nursing Service Department Mihara Memorial Hospital (Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture)
Institute of Brain and Blood Vessels
[Profile]
Yoko Takahashi graduated from the Isesaki General Health Center College of Nursing in 1988. After working in the acute care ward and operating room, she was appointed as ward charge nurse and chief nurse, and then became director of the nursing service department in 2004. She is a director of the Gunma Nursing Association. In 2002, she became a Registered Health Information Manager and completed a second level course for certified nurse managers. |
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| How do you approach your patients in the hospital? |
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| Takahashi: |
Mihara Memorial Hospital's philosophy is “Love, Harmony, and Learning.” Love means to have a heart that expresses kindness and caring for patients. Harmony symbolizes the hope that staff members will help one another and cooperate. Learning represents the wish that staff members will continue learning and never lose the desire to improve themselves.
Based on the hospital's philosophy, the hospital's nursing service department has its own also: “Provide heartfelt care.” Keeping this ethos in mind, we strive to interact with each of our patients and their families with concern and to communicate sincerely with them. The nursing profession is much more than a set of skilled procedures; it requires a strong sense of responsibility that the patient's life is in your hands. The feeling of accomplishment that comes from knowing a patient was satisfied by the care you provided makes the job rewarding. |
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| Can you tell us about the team-based medical care which is a forte of Mihara Memorial Hospital? |
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| Takahashi: |
Our team-based medical care assigns different professionals to stations at each ward based on three concepts: a hands-on policy, expertise, and cooperative structure. In other words, people with different kinds of expertise are actively involved in patient care. So, for instance, pharmacists handle preparation (i.e., of mixed injections), drug dispensing, management of drugs brought to the hospital with the patient, and administration instruction. Rehabilitation staff offer prompt rehabilitation from the acute stage. Registered dieticians take care of nutritional guidance, and counselors work on discharge coordination. In this kind of work environment, professionals can update each other on a daily basis about patients' conditions, while allowing them to spend more time with their patients.
The most important thing when practicing team-based medical care is the sharing of information between staff in different areas. In 2004, our hospital introduced electronic medical charts to allow more prompt communication among various professionals. In this system, patient incidents such as slips and falls and bedsore management are recorded electronically, which enables more efficient, effective operations and increased time spent directly on nursing care. This increase in direct nursing care creates an environment where nursing professionalism can be demonstrated more fully, makes nursing feel worthwhile, and is also a positive approach for human resources development. |
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| As someone involved in providing that kind of nursing care, how do you see Eisai's hhc activities? |
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| Takahashi: |
Participating in Eisai's on-site training at this hospital, I was surprised at how closely the hhc philosophy resembles the heart we have in the nursing profession. When training young nurses, I always tell them that, no matter what their conditions are, whether mild or severe, patients and their families feel the same anxiety, and the nurses will naturally see what they need to do just by putting themselves in their shoes. I think this idea is the same as Eisai's hhc philosophy. It is also very interesting that Eisai's Knowledge Creation Department is working to contribute to patients through knowledge creation activities based on awareness gained from hands-on medical care training sessions. I think it is a wonderful thing for a company and its people to have a real-life image of the patients taking their medicine and the circumstances they face. |
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| From a nursing standpoint, what are your future expectations of Eisai? |
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| Takahashi: |
When patients' families see the medicine left untaken or dropped on the floor, they can become highly alarmed and wonder if the hospital is taking proper care of the patient. For the family, medicine is a source of relief, and seeing the patient take medication properly gives them hope for recovery. To ensure that medicines are used properly, it would be ideal to have an environment where professional caregivers and pharmaceutical companies can conduct research together, as parties that have the same values.
Also, the fact that Aricept® slows the progress of symptoms in Alzheimer's disease gives great hope to families who have a patient with this condition. But not everyone knows this. It would be good if this kind of information was provided not only by pharmaceutical companies, but more broadly by working together more with nurses like us who are closer to patients in hospitals. |
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