Annual Report 2021

Supportive Care Center

Koichi Goto, Sadamoto Zenda, Kazue Hayasaka, Hatoe Sakamoto, Yoko Iida, Nahoko Kaneko, Nanaki Goto, Naka Sakaguchi, Ayako Shimakua, Tokiko Suzuki, Erika Sekine, Emi Takayama, Yuta Hirano, Chieka Yoshida, Miiko Watanabe, 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 fields for actual or potential physical, mental, and social problems that cancer patients and their families have to 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 establishing early palliative care.

Research activities

1. Consultation support/community medicine cooperation

  In 2021, we received 6,739 (up 12.1% over 2020) new consultations. Among them, 6,017 (89.3%) were from patients who had received medical treatment in our hospital, or their families, and 772 (10.7%) were from patients who had received medical treatment at other medical institutions, or their families (Table 1).

Table 1. Details of the consultation support provided in 2021

 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. With no end in sight to the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020, a full-scale online promotion of related information was initiated in fiscal year 2021. Various webinars for multidisciplinary collaboration aimed at improving the quality of life of patients and their families were conducted. In fiscal year 2021, 23 videos were released, which obtained 76,706 views. In addition, two new comprehensive support seminars for patients with cancer were held, which drew the participation of 826 people from across Japan.

 Furthermore, a new online study group on palliative care was launched. It held two sessions in 2021, which were attended by 507 participants from all over the nation.

 As a result of this new initiative, participation in various seminars has expanded to include patients, families, business establishments, and educators in all 43 prefectures of Japan. In the future, we plan to improve the system so that useful information can be delivered to all those who need it across all regions and positions.

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 provided support for a total of 433 cases with the aim of facilitating a balance between work and treatment for patients suffering from cancer.

3.  Prevention program to improve the job turnover rate for cancer patients

 Research on the practical application of the continuity of employment and return-to-work program for achieving decent work for patients with cancer (Health Labour Sciences Research Grant-in-Aid) was commenced in fiscal year 2020, and is ongoing. In fiscal year 2021, a website that can be used by patients, families, attending physicians, and business owners was built with the aim of promoting a nationwide program to support the balance between work and cancer treatment established through prior research. A feasibility study was also started.

Written by Masafumi Ikeda and Hatoe Sakamoto