Measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19

Through the services we provide, Medley is helping to address a variety of social problems that have emerged due to the spread of COVID-19.

Project to support access to reliable medical information

Medley has already been making medical information available for some time via our MEDLEY online medical dictionary, but in order to support access to reliable information related to COVID-19, we are also participating in a project launched by experts in the field.

As the situation regarding COVID-19 changes, a wide range of differing information is reported and this makes it difficult for non-experts to access the most recent reliable information. This project makes use of Google’s Question Hub service to produce search terms for unanswered questions related to COVID-19 for which no appropriate answers have been found. A team of specialists including practicing physicians then creates entries to be published in our MEDLEY online medical dictionary related to these search terms.

Multifaceted use of telemedicine

Because use of telemedicine allows patients to make use of the services of medical institutions from their homes, it eliminates travel to and from medical facilities and shortens waiting times while avoiding the risk of COVID-19 infection. In order to prevent the spread of infections, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare issued a special relaxation of regulations allowing more widespread use of telemedicine. In response to this increased demand from society for telemedicine, in addition to our efforts to increase the adoption of our CLINICS and Pharms systems, we are also working with local governments, medical institutions, and corporations to increase the availability of telemedicine.

Mental care and free online consultation for pregnant women

In cooperation with the Saitama Obstetrics & Gynecology Association, we are providing mental care and free online consultation for pregnant women at seven medical institutions in Saitama Prefecture including Saitama Medical University Hospital. Through this program, we support mental health professionals in the field of obstetrics and gynecology as they assist patients experiencing strong concerns regarding pregnancy, childbirth, and childrearing amid a pandemic.

Online visitations for hospitalized patients

In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, many hospitals have limited visitations for hospitalized patients. This means that many patients who have been in the hospital for a long time have not had an opportunity to visit with their families. To resolve this issue, we have partnered with the Kanagawa prefectural government to facilitate online visitations for hospitalized patients.

Support for adoption of telemedicine in elderly care facilities

Concerns that transfer and travel to and from medical institutions and extended waiting periods spent in waiting rooms could increase the risk of contagion for residents of elderly care facilities and their attendants including care managers have become a serious barrier to continuing medical care. To resolve this issue, we are cooperating with medical institutions to promote systems that allow the use of telemedicine in elderly care facilities in Okinawa Prefecture.

Maintenance of medical systems on remote islands and proof-of-concept studies for continued medical care for islanders

Amid a shortage of doctors on remote Japanese islands, when medical professionals are infected by COVID-19, they are unable to provide essential medical care to the inhabitants of these islands. This has resulted in a regional medical care crisis. There are also concerns among patients regarding the risk of infection during travel to medical institutions and while spending time in waiting rooms. This creates barriers to continuing medical care. To resolve this issue, we are cooperating with the town of Yonaguni and the Yonaguni Medical Clinic to promote the construction of systems to allow the use of telemedicine by all residents of Yonaguni island.

Provision of telemedicine systems free-of-charge to home-care patients

In response to growing demand from society owing to the spread of COVID-19 and the increasing number of home-care patients, we have partnered with NTT DOCOMO and NTT Communications to provide systems that allow medical institutions to quickly videoconference with home-care patients with COVID-19. As engagement at the local level is especially important when serving home-care patients, we proactively cooperate with medical associations and local governments to meet their needs.

Support for hiring of public health nurses by regional local governments

The Japanese public health system has been stretched to the breaking point by the COVID-19 crisis. In response, the Japanese government set a goal of increasing the number of public health nurses specializing in infection control by 50% by the end of FY2022. However, local governments have been having difficulty hiring public health nurses. To contribute to the timely strengthening of measures to prevent COVID-19 infections, we have been providing assistance with the hiring process to local governments using our JobMedley recruitment service by composing job postings and waiving success fees for public health nurse job placements. This has resulted in the hiring of many public health nurses.

Free service offering online tours of nursing care facilities

Nursing care facility tours present an infection risk not only to potential residents and their families, but also to current residents and staff. Many nursing care facilities are therefore limiting such tours. However, because these tours are essential to the decision-making process of people considering entering these facilities, this has become an important issue for both potential residents and facility managers. To resolve this issue, our Kaigo-no Honne Nursing facility search website is cooperating with nursing care facility operators to launch a service providing online tours of nursing care facilities. We will also offer a search function allowing potential residents to narrow down their choices from among facilities offering online tours and a webpage allowing potential residents to easily sign up for tours.

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