JNA News Release2010 Vol.3

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

Tel: +81-3-5778-8559

Fax: +81-3-5778-5602

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

President’s Message
I have now entered the last half of the third term of mypresidency, and FY2010 will be my final year in office. During
this round-up year, I’m fully committed to creating a working
environmentfortheretentionof

nursing

personnel,

particularly by improving the wage standard and working
hours. Since January, Japanese Nursing Association (JNA)
is providing a “Consultation on Nurses’ Working Hours”(consultation service concerning working hours of nurses.)
Responding to the concerns of those who are working in thefield and helping to resolve those concerns are the mission of
the professional organization.
Last year’s change in government was a significant event.
Policy-making

procedures have changed greatly, andalthough it was at first difficult even to submit a request, the situation has gradually improv ed. JNA exists fornursing personnel. We must maintain neutrality as a public-interest corporation and respond flexibly toachieve nursing policies. In spite of the on-going economic stagnation, nursing is a field where further growthis expected. We will do our best so that the members of JNA can continue to work with pride in theirprofession.■

Health guidance program for the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases
For the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases, botha high-risk approach targeting the high-risk group
and a population approach targeting the whole

Public Health Nurse

community are necessary to raise the community’s

Nursing personnel in Japan include

awareness of health-promotion.

public health nurses, midwives, nurses,

Public healthnurses have been making an important contribution

and assistant nurses.

to community health and are expected to play a

Public Health Nurses, Midwives andleading role in health guidance. As one of theNurses defines the public health nurse

initiatives to prevent lifestyle-related diseases, JNA

as one who engages in health guidance.

has developed its own “JNA Group Support Program”

The public health nurse must pass theto build effective health guidance programs and toNational Examinations both for nursing

train health guidance specialists. Since FY2006, thisand public health nursing, and obtain aprogram has been utilized as a tool to implement alicense.

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JNA News Release2010 Vol.3

model project for the support of lifestyle-related

implemented for a 3-year period starting in 2008. At

disease prevention. The success of this project led

the same time, JNA has been actively training healthto the initiation of a “Specified Health Guidance

guidance personnel to improve their health guidanceConsultation Model Project” that also tapped intoskills. ■“JNAGroup

Support

Program,”andwas

JNA Group Support Program is a program that supports the efforts of individuals with different needs.
Every three months, group discussions are organized and participants are also encouraged to review theirlifestyles based on the HbA1c test results. The participants check their own test results and eating habits tounderstand metabolic syndrome through experience, and discuss it with other participants who have similar
health problems. To let participants feel comfortable, group discussions are held in small groups of 6 to 7people and the discussion is led by a facilitator. Seventy-five percent of the participants continued with theprogram in FY2007.

My Nurse
Following

therevisionofthelong-term

careunnecessary emergency transport/ hospitalizations,reimbursement system in FY2009, “managementand act as a “lifeline” for those receiving home care.

guidance for home care” (“My Nurse”) was developed“My Nurse” is also recommended as a “trial” visiting

as a new service provided by nurses. This is a nursing

care system, so that users and care managers whocounseling service for people with relatively low-levelare hesitant about its introduction can get anlong-term care (support) needs.

opportunity to experience the system.

Due to theClosedifficulties with making hospital visits, those receiving

attention can be paid to potential patients who needhome care will benefit from the service if the physician

visiting care, hence an effective linkage to visiting caredecides that “management guidance for home care bycana nursing professional” is necessary. This service is“instructions for visiting care,” which is usuallyeligible when they have received certification that theyrequired for visiting care, will not be necessary toneed long-term care (support) for the first time, uponreceive the “My Nurse” service.

renewal of the certification, or when the classification

JNA implements visiting care and is making efforts toof the nursing care (assistance) need has changed.

familiarize and promote “My Nurse” services, to

By allowing users and their families to freely consult

support people to live healthy in a familiar community

with nursing professionals about their anxieties andor home environment, to protect their dignity, and to

the problems they face during home care, the service

help them lead a peaceful and satisfying life.■

will help to prevent deterioration of their health, avoid

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beensured.

Moreover,thephysician’s

JNA News Release2010 Vol.3

Long-term care insurance system
Long-term care insurance system
This system allows users to receive comprehensive services by making their own choices from diverse
medical and welfare service providers.
Principle
The principle is to provide support that extends beyond personal care, to enable elderly people to liveindependently.
Content

Adopts the social insurance system, which has a clear allowance and cost relationship.

Insured person: (1) 65 years or older (primary insured person), (2) age group 40-64 (secondaryinsured person)

Service provision: After receiving the application of the insured person, the insurer (municipality,special wards) will classify the insured by their condition, and the relevant services will be provided
according to the classification.

For secondary insured persons, services will be provided if long-termcare becomes necessary as a result of terminal cancer, rheumatoid arthritis or other specific diseases
associated with aging.

Japan-Arab Women’s Exchange Program
As the host organization of the 24th Japan-Arab
Women’s Exchange Program, the Vice President ofJNA, Tomoko Kusama, and the Executive Director,
Kyoko Nagaike, visited Jordan, Palestine, and Egypt,from November 6th to 13th, 2009. The main themeof the forum was “Health Care and Women’s Role,”
and seminars were held and field visits to medical
institutions were made under this theme.

At theseminars given in each country, the current situationof nursing education in Japan and its improvementprocesses were introduced.

Also presentations

were made to describe the importance of nursing
personnel as professionals who contribute to people’s

Seminar at General Federation of Jordanian Women

health and creating a working environment thatencourages women to continue working, efforts tointroduced,

improve the working environment for nurses wereopinions were exchanged with the local women’s

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recommendations

weremade,andJNA News Release2010 Vol.3

organizations and health care professionals.
In July 2010, JNA will be implementing an Invitation

News Topics in Japan

Program under the same theme, inviting one personfrom each of these three countries. JNA is preparing

Expanding the role of nurses

a program that will highlight the importance ofOn March 19, the report was issued regarding

unification between education and clinical practice.■theexpansionoftherolesofnurses

discussed at the Review Meeting for thePromotion of Team Care of the Ministry of

Nursing in Japan

Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW).

The

report included the decision made about theQ What is the standard payment for nursing
personnel?

model activity and validation of a “SpecifiedNurse (tentative),” a new framework fornursing. Under the direction of physicians,According to the Hospital Nurse Survey (2007) conducted
by JNA, the average starting monthly wage of a newly
graduated nurse (high school education plus a 3-yeartraining course) was 193,907 yen in FY2008.

The total

wage, including night shift allowance and commuting
allowance, was 252,488 yen. For a nurse (average age of35.6 years), the official monthly wage was 279,600 yen andthe annual bonus was 800,400 yen, according to the Basic
Statistical Survey on Wage Structure (2007). There may
be large differences between regions and according to thehospital size.

Q What ispersonnel?

Specified Nurses shallperform“specificmedicalthatincludeinterventions”

willrelatively invasive interventions. The MHLW
has announced its policy to establish a
succeeding meeting at an early stage inFY2010, and to study the requirements forSpecified Nurses as well as the medical
interventions they will be permitted to perform.
In this report, recommendations were also
made to clarify general nurses’ possible scopeof work.

theturnover rateofnursing

Medical acts performed by personnelproviding long-term care
On March 26, in response to the results of theAccording to the Survey on Demand and Supply of Hospital
Nurses (2009) conducted by JNA, the turnover rate was
11.9% for full-time nurses and 8.9% for novice nurses,
showing a downward trend compared to the previous year.
Turnover rates tend to be particularly high in major cities,
such as government-decreed cities and the 23 wards inTokyo, and in small-scale hospitals (under 300 beds) in themajor cities. Turnover rates of novice nurses are lower inhospitals with higher ratios of nurse-to-patients staffing.

model project, the Review Meeting of theMHLW

announced

its

policytopermit

personnel providing long-term care at special
nursing homes for the elderly to perform someof

themedicalconditions

areinterventions,met.

Theseifcertainmedicalinterventions include oropharyngeal suctioningof sputum, and some procedures concerning
gastrostomy tube feeding. It was consideredappropriate for nursing professionals to carryout such procedures as confirming that there
are no problems with the gastrostoma,connecting

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thefeedingtubeandthegastrostoma, and starting the feeding process.