The Operating Room During a Severe Earthquake: Lessons From the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. 2014

Yasuyuki Suzuki, and Ikuo Fukuda, and Shigeyuki Nakaji
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, Aomori, Japan.

OBJECTIVE The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred at 14:46 on March 11, 2011, producing serious and widespread damage. To assess damages in hospital operating departments during and after the earthquake, we surveyed hospitals in this region. METHODS Questionnaires were sent to 415 acute care hospitals in Tohoku and east Kanto areas. The questionnaires elicited the number of perioperative patients when the earthquake hit, obstacles to continuing surgery, structural and nonstructural damage to the operating department, and the effect on routine surgery after the earthquake. RESULTS Of the 213 hospitals (51%) that completed questionnaires, 474 patients were undergoing operations during the earthquake, and 222 operations were canceled afterward. Risk factors for continuing operations, as reported by 102 hospitals, were tremors and electrical blackouts (odds ratio [OR]: 79.3 and 110.5; P < .01). In 154 hospitals, difficulties in performing operations after the earthquake were reported. Significant obstacles to the management of operations after the earthquake were characterized by infrastructure disorder scores, seismic intensity, disruption of electrical power and air conditioning, and damage to out-of-hospital telecommunications (OR, 0.46; P = .04). CONCLUSIONS Tremors and electrical blackouts were important risk factors for performing operations. Nonstructural damage, especially to out-of-hospital telecommunications, affected the management of the operating rooms. Hospital logistics are very important to achieve appropriate disaster management. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2014;0:1-7).

UI MeSH Term Description Entries

Related Publications

Yasuyuki Suzuki, and Ikuo Fukuda, and Shigeyuki Nakaji
January 2020, Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand,
Yasuyuki Suzuki, and Ikuo Fukuda, and Shigeyuki Nakaji
May 2012, Japan Medical Association journal : JMAJ,
Yasuyuki Suzuki, and Ikuo Fukuda, and Shigeyuki Nakaji
October 2013, Bulletin of the World Health Organization,
Yasuyuki Suzuki, and Ikuo Fukuda, and Shigeyuki Nakaji
October 2012, Western Pacific surveillance and response journal : WPSAR,
Yasuyuki Suzuki, and Ikuo Fukuda, and Shigeyuki Nakaji
April 2012, The European respiratory journal,
Yasuyuki Suzuki, and Ikuo Fukuda, and Shigeyuki Nakaji
October 2012, Current hypertension reports,
Yasuyuki Suzuki, and Ikuo Fukuda, and Shigeyuki Nakaji
February 2014, Prehospital and disaster medicine,
Yasuyuki Suzuki, and Ikuo Fukuda, and Shigeyuki Nakaji
July 2011, Neurology,
Yasuyuki Suzuki, and Ikuo Fukuda, and Shigeyuki Nakaji
September 2011, International nursing review,
Yasuyuki Suzuki, and Ikuo Fukuda, and Shigeyuki Nakaji
March 2013, Respiratory investigation,
Copied contents to your clipboard!