[Development of a home care educational program for community physicians and other professionals-a trial in Kashiwa...

From May to October 2011, we conducted an 8-day homecare educational program for physicians, dentists, pharmacists, visiting nurses, long-term care managers, and hospital staff in Kashiwa city, Chiba, which was primarily intended to increase home visits by physicians. The characteristics of the program were as follows: 1) active and busy community physician participation, 2) attendance of practical training by physicians, 3) interprofessional discussion, 4) recruitment of participants from the same city, 5) recommendation of participant recruitment by a community-level professional association such as Kashiwa City Medical Association. By comparison of the pre- and post-program questionnaires completed by participants, the motivation for homecare practice, knowledge about homecare, and interactions with other professionals have increased. We will further standardize and generalize this program in order to contribute to homecare promotion in Japan.