title: Satellite communications for supporting medical care in the aftermath of disasters.
abstract: At present, mobile phones are not a useful tool for medical control during a disaster. We have estimated the number of satellite channels that would be needed for telemedicine in a major disaster using the Erlang B equation. This indicated that 29 satellite channels would be sufficient for the operation of a telemedicine system for hospital-to-hospital communications during a major disaster in Japan. Governments at local and national levels in Japan, as well as private organizations, require an independent satellite telecommunication infrastructure to deal with the aftermath of disasters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Tokai University, Kanagawa, Japan. pp07028@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kiyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagami
authors.forename: Isao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Juzoji
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Igarashi
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D004190:Disasters; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007564:Japan; D017215:Satellite Communications / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards