title: The practice of emergency medicine in Fukuoka City Hospital, a secondary emergency facility in Japan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The transition of emergency departments and the current situation of emergency medicine (EM) in Fukuoka City Hospital (FCH) were reviewed.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data concerning emergency medicine, such as the transition of intra-hospital emergency systems, were obtained from annual reports published in our hospital. Additionally, the data regarding educational programs for emergency room staff, the number of patients taken to the emergency room by ambulances, the activities regarding the Fukuoka Medical Rally (FMR) and the disaster relief team (DRT) were also reviewed and analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Departments of neurology, neurosurgery, emergency, and cardiology were opened sequentially, starting in 2003, with an establishment of facilities of an emergency room (ER), intensive care unit (ICU), stroke care unit (SCU), and coronary care unit (CCU). Regarding educational programs, lectures and demonstrations on basic and advanced life support techniques were given to all staff annually starting in 2004, and resident doctors completed rotations in the ER and the ICU for three months. FCH staff consistently obtained excellent results at the FMR. Ambulance crews attended lectures and received training on EM and intra-tracheal intubation. The numbers of patients taken by ambulance to FCH increased from 129 in 2002 to 2,316 in 2011. The DRT was dispatched to respond to disasters that occurred in Japan.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As a secondary emergency hospital, FCH has developed a system to accept emergency patients. This project will contribute to the improvement of the EM system in the area.
authors: Department of Emergency, Fukuoka City Hospital, Japan. okuyama929@yahoo.co.jp
authors: Toshiro
authors: T
authors: Okuyama
authors: Katsuyuki
authors: K
authors: Hirakawa
authors: Masanobu
authors: M
authors: Kishikawa
authors: Hideaki
authors: H
authors: Uchiyama
authors: Hirofumi
authors: H
authors: Kawanaka
authors: Daisuke
authors: D
authors: Korenaga
authors: Kenji
authors: K
authors: Takenaka
mesh_terms: D000552:Ambulances; D054597:Disaster Medicine / Q000639:trends; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000639:trends*; D007564:Japan; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000193:education