JNA News Release2013 December, Vol.13

JNA News Release
Japanese Nursing Association
5-8-2 Jingu-mae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001, JAPAN

Tel: +81-3-5778-8559

Fax: +81-3-5778-8478

http://www.nurse.or.jp/jna/english/

JNA Opposes Establishment of a New Basic Nursing Education System for
Working Adults Who Are University Graduates
Japanese Nursing Association (JNA) believes that pre-licensing education is very important foundation for
nursing professionals. Liberal education together with systematic nursing education will be essential toproviding high-quality nursing tailored to individual Japanese citizens in the future. Because of this, JNA
promotes the basic nursing education at the university level.
Currently, the Japanese government’s National Council on Social Security System Reform has proposed
establishing a new two-year basic nursing education system for working adults with bachelor’s degrees. JNA
has decided on a policy opposing establishment of the new system, for the following reasons.
z

It is not desirable for nursing education system to become even more complex.

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It is unacceptable for JNA whose position is to enrich the basic nursing education, as the new basic
nursing education system is thought to be the shortened education in 2 years.

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University graduates should take nursing university training with a proper educational environment ■Information on Nursing for the Older People in Japan Posted on JNA website
The growing number of aging population is an issue thatneeds to be addressed globally.

As Japan has a muchhigher percentage of older people than in othercountries, our country is looking at a variety of ways totackle with this situation. JNA has begun posting
information resources on nursing for the older people inJapan on our official English web site. These resources
introduce the situation in Japan using facts and figures
covering three topics:

1. The Aging of the Japanese

Population; 2. Nursing for Older People: Current
Situation and Challenges; and3. The JapaneseNursing Association in Action.

http://www.nurse.or.jp/jna/english/

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JNA News Release2013 Vol.13

Standard Text for Promoting Medical Safety
JNA published a new “Standard Text for Promoting

published the new text.

Medical Safety.”

In examining and developing the content of the text,

JNA has previously published two

policies on medical safety.

In 1999 we released ourJNA focused on the role and functions of nurses aspolicy for accidents prevention “Prevention of Medical

they relate to standard medical safety practices andAccidents

Risk

medical safety management systems that have taken

Management Guidelines for Nurse Administrators”.

root at many healthcare institutions in the 14 years

We followed this in 2002 with a policy to respond thesince the first guideline was released in 1999. The

accidents “Responding the Medical Accidents: Risk

new text explains the basic stance on promotion ofManagement

Administrators”.

medical safety. It gives an overview of concrete efforts

Although numerous healthcare institutions utilize

to promote medical safety and prevent medical

these policies, there has been a growing need toaccidents, and an overview of concrete efforts taken

review these to respond the revision of the Medical

when medical accidents do occur, and the legal

Service Act and the establishment of a medical safety

responsibility in such cases. Finally, the text explains

management

medical safety training as part of the basic andthroughout

theGuidelines

systemthat

Organizations:forincludes

education.

Following two years of examining the issues by acontinuing nursing education. ■study committee launched in 2011, JNA now

2013 Survey of Tobacco Use by Nurses
JNA surveys its members to study their use of tobacco. The purpose is to identify the smoking rate andsmoking-related factors (lifestyle, working environment, etc.) among nurses who work for the health of Japanesecitizens, and to indicate what support these members need.
2006.

The survey was last taken seven years ago, inThe 2006 survey revealed that 19.9% of nurses smoked, down 5.8% from the 2001 survey. Results of the2013 survey will be announced in April 2014. We will also reveal the results in the JNA News Release. ■News Topics in Japan
Specified medical interventions that nurses perform to assist medical care
On October 17, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s Working Group to Examine
Nurses’ Works to Promote Team Healthcare set the 41 interventions such as intubation as
specified medical interventions that nurses could practice within the nurses’ role of assisting
medical care. Nurses will be obligated to complete training to practice these interventions. TheMHLW plans to submit the draft of a legal revision at next year’s regular session of the Diet toassure the training system for these specified medical interventions a legal grounding.
Moreover, several new interventions will be added that nurses will be able to practice as thenurses’ role of assisting medical care without any obligation to receive training.

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JNA News Release2013 Vol.13

Nursing in JapanQ What institutions offer basic nursing education in Japan, and how many years do theprograms take?
There are several courses on basic nursing education in Japan. The most common routes to become a nurse
are to complete senior high school and then receive basic nursing education at a four-year university,
three-year junior college or three-year nursing school. Candidates then take a national examination to obtain alicense. The major difference of these courses is the government organization with jurisdiction over the training
institution. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology oversees universities and juniorcolleges, while in general the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare oversees nursing schools. There is also
an option for junior high school graduates, who can attend a five-year nursing senior high school.
Training of public health nurses and midwives takes place at universities, through one -year junior college andnursing school programs, master’s degree programs at graduate schools, and others. In cases where
universities offer public health nurse or midwife training programs within their four-year undergraduate
curricula, students can be qualified to take the national examinations for public health nurse and/or midwife inaddition to the national examination for nurse.

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