[Beyond Zero Physical Restraints] Yokohama Hospital Applies for Humanitude® Certification Across All Wards

Genkikai Medical Corporation Yokohama Hospital (Location: Midori Ward, Yokohama City; Chairman & Director: Akira Kitajima) will challenge for further Humanitude® certification in fiscal year 2026. Specifically, it aims to acquire Humanitude® Bronze certification anew for its long-term care medical facility and four medical rehabilitation wards. Furthermore, the dementia treatment ward, which obtained Bronze certification two years ago, will aim for Silver certification as its next step. Through this, by deepening the practice of Humanitude® care throughout the hospital, we will provide high-quality medical and nursing care services.

Yokohama Hospital Achieves Abolition of Physical Restraints

Yokohama Hospital has aimed to "make patients' lives shine until the very end, free from fear, pain, and loneliness," providing medical and nursing care for the elderly. During this journey, there was a question that significantly changed our approach to care: "Why must physical restraints be used?" This simple question was posed by a new graduate care worker who had just joined our hospital, regarding the routine use of physical restraints. This question prompted us to re-evaluate the care practices that had become commonplace in the field, and we began initiatives towards "zero physical restraints." In this endeavor, each staff member faced patients individually and continued to experiment. Four years later, in 2016, we achieved zero physical restraints, and a culture of maximizing patients' inherent abilities took root throughout the hospital.

To further support "individuality" beyond zero physical restraints, we introduced "Humanitude®," a care technique from France, in 2016. Humanitude® is a philosophy that practices care to protect patient dignity through four pillars: "looking, speaking, touching, and standing." (※1)

At our hospital, we interpret the philosophy of Humanitude® as "patients, staff, and the hospital respecting and trusting each other, aiming for a better life for all involved with our hospital," and all staff are committed to its practice. Within this, we utilize the Humanitude® certification system as a method to objectively evaluate the quality of care we provide and to continuously improve.

Source:
※1 Japan Humanitude Society, https://jhuma.org/

Our hospital has two certified Humanitude® instructors who are responsible for in-house training and regional lecture activities. In an event that fulfilled a patient's wish to "want to do makeup," the patient's "individuality" shone.

Preparation for Certification Acquisition

The members of the Humanitude® Promotion Project (hereinafter, Humanitude® PJ) play a central role in the hospital for certification acquisition. The team is cross-functional, consisting of certified Humanitude® instructors, certified dementia care nurses, as well as ward nurses, care staff, rehabilitation professionals, and administrative staff. Members act as promoters in each ward, sharing and resolving on-site issues in bi-monthly meetings. Additionally, Humanitude® practitioner leaders in each ward, who have completed the Humanitude® Practitioner Leader Training (※2), serve as role models for Humanitude® practice and support the improvement of care quality in the wards.

Source:
※2 IGM-Japon LLC, Humanitude Training Guide, https://humanitude.care/

Genkikai Humanitude Practice Training for Staff

Furthermore, as an in-house initiative, we conduct training led by the certified Humanitude® instructors at our hospital. This training is attended by all full-time nurses, care staff, and therapists at our hospital. The content is a program that combines classroom learning of Humanitude® philosophy and techniques with practical application in actual patient care. Participants in this 4-day program intensively learn Humanitude® and reflect on their interactions with patients.

Training participants discussing before entering care, practicing touching, looking at, and speaking to patients.

In the training, significant changes have been observed, such as "patients who didn't speak began to speak" and "patients who mostly lived in bed challenged standing exercises." Participants witnessing such changes have commented, "I realized that what's important is not the length of time spent, but how we interact," and "I realized the importance of building relationships with patients," serving as an opportunity to understand the essence of care. In this training, we aim to acquire knowledge and skills applicable to the field by iterating between theory and practice.

Through the promotion of hospital-wide system building by the Humanitude® PJ and the understanding of philosophy and acquisition of techniques through in-house training, we aim to achieve Bronze and Silver certifications in the next fiscal year. We will then proceed with building a system that can provide high-quality care throughout the hospital.