[Leadership in the promotion of inter-professional collaboration in terminal cancer care].

Home care requires indispensable inter-professional/inter-organizational collaboration. However, due to differences in specialization, the language used, and work structure, medical professionals may be confronted with a gap between the ideal and reality of collaboration. In the present case, a 50-year-old female with terminal cancer wished to receive home care and was consequently transferred to her home. The patient has been receiving a 24-h continuous drip infusion via a central venous route and using a patient-controlled analgesia pump for pain management. She has chronic respiratory failure in addition to cancer-related pain. Furthermore, she has been injecting herself with insulin 4 times per day because she has type 2 diabetes. The patient requires almost full assistance in daily life. This type of home care is equivalent to inpatient care that requires inter-professional and inter-organizational collaboration by 12 professionals. The leadership of a care manager with knowledge of a patient's life and family background is essential in such cases.