JAPANESE NURSES GET THE OPPORTUNITY TO WATCH U.S. COUNTERPARTS AT WORK

Japanese nurse Yuriko Kuroe watched with envy Tuesday as nurses at St. Francis Medical Center cared for patients but never once gave a sponge bath or changed sheets.

"Nurses aides do those things here so nurses can do their real jobs," Kuroe said through an interpreter.

That's not the case in Japan, where nurses work under specific directions from physicians and do many of the tasks technicians complete in the United States.

Kuroe is among 12 Japanese nurses visiting St. Francis this week to learn about American nursing practices.

Nursing in Japan is about to change to give nurses more patient care responsibilities, Kuroe predicted.

Tomo Nakagawa, coordinator of the tour, said nurses on the tour are leaders in Japan. They hope to become more independent and exercise more control in patient care.

Nakagawa said: "The amazing thing about what they have seen is the relationship between doctors and nurses. The nurse's role here is much higher than in Japan. American nurses make more decisions without doctors. In this hospital, there are lots of nurses, but there are not very many doctors around."

While visiting Cape Girardeau, the guests have been observing nurses and participating in computer training. They also toured Southeast Missouri State University.

Nurse and author Lynda Carpenito spoke with the Japanese visitors about diagnosis that allows nurses to assume more responsibility for patient care. She has written several books on the topic.

Carpenito said when asked to help organize the tour, she knew the Japanese nurses should visit St. Francis. "The strong nursing leadership you see at St. Francis is now everywhere.

"You find nursing at the center of the care delivery system in a hospital," Carpenito told the nurses. "If you need surgery and do not need nursing care, you leave at 5 p.m.

"When you are transferred from ICU to a step-down unit, you are not transferred from one physician to another. It's from one type of nursing to another. When you are discharged from the hospital, you are not discharged from medical care, you are discharged from nursing care."

Kureo said Carpenito's book helped start the movement in her country.

"When the book was first published in Japan a couple of years ago, a lot of nurses were really excited," Kureo said. "I wanted to come to see what's really going on in the system."

Kureo also likes the use of computers in record keeping and patient care. "I would like to take that system to my hospital in Japan," she said.

"If we can use the computer we don't have to spend so much time on papers and can spend more time with patients."

"It's an honor to have been requested by Carpenito and the Medical Academy in Tokyo to represent nursing practice in the United States," said Marcia Southard-Ritter, St. Francis Patient Care Vice President.