Abstract
Highways are traveled at high speeds, and motor vehicle collisions on highways are thus often serious accidents. Additionally, collisions in tunnels require ingenious responses by emergency services in carrying out rescue operations, life-saving treatment, and transportation. A joint drill was thus conducted assuming that multiple motor vehicle collisions had occurred in a tunnel of a highway before the opening of the newly constructed Expressway Kisei Line. The medical staffs traveling in the medical car were two medical doctors and one nurse. After reporting their arrival at the field command headquarters, one medical doctor participated in the field command headquarters, and the other medical doctor and nurse began to provide medical care at the first-aid station. The first triage performed by the emergency clue who arrived earlier than the medical car determined that two people were seriously injured, three people were moderate injured, and three people were mildly injured. The nurse then performed a second triage and the medical doctor stabilized the patients according to their severity of injury. As there was only one nurse, the paramedic assigned to the first-aid station also provided medical care. The destination of each patient was determined considering the road conditions for travel by ambulance. The drill highlighted that, for accidents in expressway tunnels providing a harsh environment for rescue and emergency activities, it is necessary to modify life-saving measures in accordance with the situation of the collision, respond to secondary disasters, and select a transport destination flexibly according to the situation. It is expected that training under such assumptions will help medical staff smoothly perform pre-hospital relief activities.
