[Questionnaire about care for patients with disturbed consciousness in the Great East Japan Earthquake].
All people in Japan have been affected significantly by the great earthquake in east Japan. We surveyed the care for patients with disturbed consciousness during the disaster, and report the results and lessons learned to prepare for the future. We sent questionnaires about the management strategy for the patients to 17 centers that had reported at the Japan Coma Society meeting in July 2011. Fifteen centers (88%) replied to the questionnaire. Collective results include the following: (1)Disaster strategy manuals exist in 87% of the institutions. (2)Forty-six percent of the manuals have been made during the last 5 years. (3)Manuals, which had been helpful during previous disasters, were effectively used in training for behavioral assessment. (4)Doctors, nurses and facilities management participated in the creation of the manual. (5)There was no tendency for stocking consumable goods. (6)A system for providing needed electricity and fuel during a disaster situation was consistently present. (7)Self-generating electrical power could be continuously provided within 24 hours in 29% of institutions. (8)Provision of batteries to home-care patients was available only in 13% of the institutions. Many institutions had disaster strategy manuals that had been created before the earthquake and these were effectively utilized. Stock control and self-generating emergency power need to be planned for future disaster response. Disaster response for those needing home care is difficult to provide over a long period.
Department of Neurosurgery, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan.
Norihito
N
Shimamura
Akira
A
Munakata
Hiroki
H
Ohkuma
D003244:Consciousness Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D004189:Disaster Planning; D055866:Earthquakes; D011211:Electric Power Supplies / Q000600:supply & distribution; D007564:Japan; D008370:Manuals as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires