2014 Volume 14 Issue 4 Pages 189-196
We clarify the damages to the function and structure of the operating rooms after the earthquake by a questionnaire survey to Tohoku and north-east Kanto area. We sent questionnaires containing 33 questions to 415 acute care hospitals and collected from 213 hospitals (51%). Total of 474 patients were undergoing various kinds of operation during the earthquake and total of 222 operations were canceled after the earthquake. One hundred fifty three (71％) of the total hospitals were built in a quakeproof structure or quake-absorbing structure, and 48 (22%) hospitals were not built in quakeproof structure. Of the 213 responding hospitals, the emergency electric power source did not work in 12 hospitals. The reasons of difficulty to continue operation were shaking, the sense of fear of the OR staff, terror of patients and blackout. The supplies for surgical operation and general materials were lacking around the areas badly damaged by earthquake, such as Aomori, Akita, Yamagata, and Ibaraki prefectures. One hundred fifty four hospitals answered that it was difficult for surgery to be performed on the next day and later after the earthquake. All hospitals in Fukushima and Miyagi that had replied said they had difficulties for routine surgery from the day after the earthquake.
The management of the operating rooms within Tohoku and north-east Kanto area was difficult by the earthquake. In the hospital near epicenter, especially in areas where seismic intensity was more than 6, it was impossible to conduct usual operation because of infrastructural damage. Medical materials were in short supply around the areas badly damaged by the earthquake. It is necessary to review each hospital's storage supplies and system of distribution. When widespread disaster happens caused by the earthquake, building a network and cooperation with peripheral hospitals is necessary to the management of operation and operation room.
