[A questionnaire survey targeting pharmacists and health care professionals involved in home care]

Patients who need home care are often old, of delicate health, and take many different medications. In order to take these medicines properly, not only the patient him/herself but also their family, the helper, and the visiting nurse must have the correct information about them. Since home care is typically carried out by several medical professionals from different fields, we sent out questionnaires to pharmacists and nurse care professionals. From the results, we found that there was a discrepancy in level of interest in medications between the health care professionals who treat the patients daily and pharmacists who hardly visit the patient's home. As for dispensing, from a risk management point of view, standardization of the colors used to sort the medicine which is packed into one medicine package is required. And for pharmacists, the needs for more cooperation with physicians were pointed out.