Sysmex developed “Touch de Tsuzukeru Kenko Nisshi (Health Journal on a Touch Screen),” a service model that allows people to use a health examination system to check their own condition. We are introducing the system in places that people have easy access to, such as drug stores and dispensing pharmacies, thus supporting the general public in maintaining their health on a daily basis.
Dropping in at a neighborhood drug store for a quick and easy health check
System configuration (example)
The top three causes of death among Japanese are (in descending order) cancer, heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease, and these account for sixty percent of the total. All of these diseases are closely related to our lifestyles, and daily health checks are essential for their prevention. If people can casually check on their health condition at a familiar place, it will make things easier for members of the general public to constantly manage their conditions.
This idea prompted Sysmex to develop its health maintenance support service “Touch de Tsuzukeru Kenko Nisshi” in fiscal 2006. Combining a touch panel terminal, including our health maintenance support software package PROWELL, with a blood pressure gauge and other testing instruments, the service allows any person to use the system and perform simple checks on the state of their health.
Coined from the words “Professional” and “Wellness,” PROWELL was developed under the supervision of professionals in medical science, nutrition, and exercise nutrition, and thus provides well-grounded health support information.
Users are first asked to provide basic information, such as gender and body weight, and then measure their blood pressure and estimated hemoglobin concentration. After answering questions on their lifestyle and nutritional intake via the touch panel, the input information and measured data is automatically analyzed to produce health support information that may be used to improve lifestyle. The results are given approximately five minutes after the user begins to input data.
Should a measured value be found abnormal, e.g., blood pressure exceeding the diagnostic criteria for hypertension, a message is displayed that encourages the user to see a doctor.
Installation of the system in drug stores and dispensing pharmacies across Japan is well underway. An increasing number of outlets are offering health counseling by pharmacists and nutritionists based on measured data and health support information.
Steps
Listening to users to constantly improve the service
To make the service easier to use, we frequently modify the phrasing of the questions so that people can understand them better.
To make this happen, our qualified senior nutritionists periodically visit outlets that offer this service to meet with users, hear what they have to say, and improve the service accordingly. During such visits, they also check the utilization of the service and provide support for the training of store staff members.
Going forward, we will promote the spread of this service to schools and fitness clubs in order to make daily health maintenance even more accessible.
Drug Store Takiya Taishibashi Store
Primary Pharmacy (dispensing pharmacy)
Recently, more and more customers at our store have become very conscious of health management and disease prevention. The number of customers who purchase supplements is also on the rise. I believe that drug stores are charged with the mission of providing products and services that meet such customer demands and, in so doing, helping people in the neighborhood to maintain their health.
Expressing the user’s condition in numerical values, “Touch de Tsuzukeru Kenko Nisshi” is highly useful in that it allows us to answer customers’ questions by referring to objective data. I hope for a supply of both hardware and software that is capable of taking measurements even more simply and promptly.
I found that many of the customers who use “Touch de Tsuzukeru Kenko Nisshi ” are surprised to discover the extent to which the system allows them to check their condition while waiting for their drugs to be prescribed at a health insurance pharmacy. Based on the check results, our senior nutritionist provides advice to the customers, who often give us a positive response with words of gratitude.
We hope to continue offering our support for the good health of people in the community by providing tips on lifestyles, as well as drugs. I can say with assurance that this service is an effective tool for health insurance pharmacies to be recognized as “health support stations.”
