Basic Nursing Division
Students practice bed making
In Basic Nursing, students learn what about the aspects of nursing that enhance people’s well-being, gaining knowledge about the aims of nursing and deepening their understanding of people who receive nursing care. Students also learn fundamental nursing methodologies to enable them to practice nursing based on theories that provide a solid professional foundation.
With regard to class content, this course teaches the processes that form the basis of nursing practice over a period of four years. In their first year, students are provided with a general introduction to nursing; they also practice living support techniques for improving people’s lives and gain early clinical experiences, such as attending to outpatients and undergoing study tours of hospital wards. In their second year, students learn how to assess a patient’s health condition in addition to problem-solving methods and medical safety. In their third year, students learn the basics of nursing research, while in their fourth year students study such topics as nursing education/management and disaster nursing.
Environmental Health Division
Students discuss their research
For many years, practitioners in this field undertook research on zoonotic diseases; today, the research focuses on phosphagen kinase, an enzyme that plays an important role in sustaining parasitic pathogens for the purpose of developing anti-parasitic agents. Using recombinant protein enzymes produced in test tubes from genes taken from these parasites, the research looks for substances that inhibit these enzymes. In addition, with the aim of improving the quality of life for elderly people, research is being undertaken on health foods that include a polysaccharide called β-glucan to ascertain its effectiveness in preventing several infectious diseases due to viral, bacterial and parasitic infections, as well as its effectiveness in relieving constipation, which is a constant problem for elderly people. Research is also being undertaken on the gap between what nurses are taught to expect and what is actually experienced in the early stages of work within the medical workplace (known as “reality shock”).
Health Informatics Division
Students using CAI program
Although the English term for this field is “Health Informatics”, it covers an extremely wide range of areas, including medical informatics, nursing informatics and public health informatics. In Japan, however, there are still only a few university programs that focus on health informatics. At the undergraduate level, education comprises information processing, nursing information theory, and introduction of health informatics, teaching students the knowledge and skills they require to be able to use computers and utilize information in the field of healthcare. Furthermore, at the graduate school level, students study health informatics and medical statistics. Research includes analysis of medical data in hospital information systems and epidemiological data collected by governmental organizations, the evaluation of health systems, and the development of medical education support systems.