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Ambulance Dispatches From Unaffected Areas After the Great East Japan Earthquake: Impact on Emergency Care in the Unaffected Areas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2015

Akihito Hagihara ,
Daisuke Onozuka ,
Takashi Nagata ,
Takeru Abe ,
Manabu Hasegawa  and
Yoshihiro Nabeshima
Akihito Hagihara*
Affiliation:
Department of Health Services Management and Policy, Kyushu University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Fukuoka, Japan
Daisuke Onozuka
Affiliation:
Department of Health Services Management and Policy, Kyushu University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Fukuoka, Japan
Takashi Nagata
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency and Critical Care Center, Kyushu University Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan
Takeru Abe
Affiliation:
Advanced Critical Care and Emergency Center, Yokohama City University Medical Center, Kanagawa, Japan
Manabu Hasegawa
Affiliation:
Shimonoseki-City Welfare Department, Yamaguchi, Japan
Yoshihiro Nabeshima
Affiliation:
Department of Health Services Management and Policy, Kyushu University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Fukuoka, Japan
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Akihito Hagihara, DMSc, MPH, Kyushu University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Department of Health Services Management and Policy, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan (e-mail: hagihara@hsmp.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp).
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Abstract

Objective

Although dispatching ambulance crews from unaffected areas to a disaster zone is inevitable when a major disaster occurs, the effect on emergency care in the unaffected areas has not been studied. We evaluated whether dispatching ambulance crews from unaffected prefectures to those damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake was associated with reduced resuscitation outcomes in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) cases in the unaffected areas.

Methods

We used the Box-Jenkins transfer function model to assess the relationship between ambulance crew dispatches and return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) before hospital arrival or 1-month survival after the cardiac event.

Results

In a model whose output was the rate of ROSC before hospital arrival, dispatching 1000 ambulance crews was associated with a 0.474% decrease in the rate of ROSC after the dispatch in the prefectures (p=0.023). In a model whose output was the rate of 1-month survival, dispatching 1000 ambulance crews was associated with a 0.502% decrease in the rate of 1-month survival after the dispatch in the prefectures (p=0.011).

Conclusions

The dispatch of ambulances from unaffected prefectures to earthquake-stricken areas was associated with a subsequent decrease in the ROSC and 1-month survival rates in OHCA cases in the unaffected prefectures. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2015;9:609–613)

Keywords

disaster planningemergency medical servicesepidemiological methods
Type
Brief Reports
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 9 , Supplement 6 , December 2015 , pp. 609 - 613
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2015 

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