Collaboration in Medical Care and Nursing in Cardiovascular Field, Focusing on Year 2025

  In Japan, the aging population combined with the diminishing number of children is rapidly progressing, and a super-aging society will be reached in Year 2025 when all baby boomers shall be more than 65 years of age. Under these circumstances, the government aims to maintain an environment in which people can live peacefully and receive medical care and nursing in the last years of their lives at the place where one has lived long, and is constructing a “community comprehensive providing system of support and service.” On providing a system of medical care and nursing, supplying appropriate services in a continuous and effective manner based on the users’ viewpoint is necessary. Depending on local ‘real’ conditions such as urban areas where aging is rapidly progressing or in lightly-populated areas, cooperation among support for self-reliance, disease prevention, and care prevention is necessary. Thus, securing medical care and nursing in the community is extremely important. At present, a fund to secure community medicine and care has been established, and designs for community medicine are under construction. Both the differentiation/cooperation of the function of sickbeds and medical care at home are promoted.
  In this session, we shall discuss the effects of health care reform on cardiovascular medicine, especially on measures in the cardiovascular field to build a comprehensive system of support and service to secure medical care and nursing.