PALLIATIVE CARE APPROACH AND ADVANCE CARE PLANNING WITH FAMILY PHYSICIAN IN JAPAN

Abstract

AbstractThe majority of Japanese people want to stay home until death, though only 10% of people end up dying in their home. In addition, few patients have discussed their desires and future care plans with their family physician in Japan. To minimize this discrepancy between preferred place of death and actual place of death, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and several academic societies have encouraged a multidisciplinary palliative care approach as well as implementing an integrated care system in the community with a process guide to expand advance care planning. I would like to introduce the current Japanese palliative care approach and advance care planning in primary care settings. I will also present the challenges and difficulties in developing high quality long-term care, especially the health care system when a family physician has not been established.