Kan-Min-Kogaku Column #24
Living authentically in a familiar place
Tomoko Deguchi, Representative Director of Kawasaki City Care Manager Liaison Council
Have you heard of the role of a care manager? They serve as advisors for individuals requiring care and their families (hereafter referred to as “users”). They utilize the long-term care insurance system to create and propose support plans that respect the wishes of each user. They also serve as coordinators for multidisciplinary collaboration among healthcare professionals involved in care, including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, day service providers, rehabilitation specialists, and administrative bodies. We believe our role is to support individuals receiving care in continuing their lives in their own way, in the familiar surroundings they call home, by leveraging the power of the community through this multidisciplinary collaboration.
As the number of elderly households and single-person households increases, communities must consider how to provide care that meets their needs. Kawasaki City utilizes its unique systems, the “Community-Based Integrated Care System Liaison Council” and the “Home-Based Medical Care Promotion Council,” to envision comprehensive care support that leverages social resources such as local businesses and public interest organizations. Where long-term care insurance falls short, utilizing these social resources is essential. Users' lifestyles vary greatly. Kawasaki City, in particular, stretches narrowly from north to south, with distinct regional characteristics across its seven wards. Therefore, it is also the role of care managers in each area to introduce and promote local medical and care services, helping individuals find services suited to their unique living environments.
Care managers also face staffing shortages, and while AI implementation is considered, it's fundamentally a people-oriented job. Responding to the vast array of situations—differing life histories, family dynamics, and so on—is no easy task. Depending on compatibility with individual healthcare professionals, the very structure of multidisciplinary collaboration can become distorted. In such cases, we act as advocates, coordinating to ensure teamwork aligns with the user's wishes. It's quite a demanding job, and I can't imagine AI ever being able to do it.
Kawasaki City is home to many foreign residents, presenting communication challenges. Even translation apps struggle with medical terminology, making it difficult to elicit symptoms. As nationalities and languages become increasingly diverse, communication tools capable of accurately addressing these needs are essential. Regarding communication, since hearing loss is common among the elderly, support tools like speech-to-text conversion are also helpful. Furthermore, the time spent transcribing audio recordings collected through monitoring and summarizing key points is enormous. There is a need to streamline this process to increase the time spent interacting with users.
We look forward to the future development of Project CHANGE, incorporating perspectives from community care and multidisciplinary collaboration.
HP for the Council: https://www.kawasaki-caremane.com/renrakukai.html
