Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2022 Jul 8:1-5. doi: 10.1017/dmp.2022.128. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: This study examined the characteristics of severe patients after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.
METHODS: Cases in the Futaba area were extracted using the dispatch database of the doctor helicopter and flight-nurse records from March 11, 2008, till March 10, 2014. The period before March 11, 2011, was defined as ‘pre-earthquake’ and the period after March 11, 2011, as ‘post-earthquake’ to compare the recorded data.
RESULTS: Of the 128 total recorded cases, 78 were dispatched during the pre-earthquake period and 50 during the post-earthquake period. The number of patients with physical trauma following the earthquake included 4 patients (33.3%) in 2011, 7 patients (43.7%) in 2012, and 13 patients (59.1%) in 2013. However, the increase in number of requests was not statistically significant (P = 0.33). All 4 incidents of physical trauma in 2011, and 3 out of 7 incidents in 2012, occurred at the power plants. A total of 4 incidents occurred at decontamination worksites in 2013.
CONCLUSIONS: It is of primary importance for hospitals to anticipate physical trauma cases during the reconstruction phase following a disaster, and develop a system for patients with physical trauma in the short- and long-term.
PMID:35801286 | DOI:10.1017/dmp.2022.128
