Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the factors affecting involvement of medical social workers (MSWs) by analyzing our original “social high risk (SHR) checklist-records” for predicting the necessity of MSWs.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the patients who had admitted to emergency center of our hospital from July 1 to October 31, 2014. We examined the relationship between the involvement of MSWs and the factors; six items of patient basic information, major nine items of the SHR checklist-record (SHR factors), eight typical reasons for hospitalization. Logistic regression analysis was used as a statistical method.
Results: 189 patients were included. 62％ of the patients with the support of MSWs have some SHR factor. Four factors (seven or more hospital days, transfer to the other hospital, less decision-making ability, and slip and fall injuries) were significantly related to involvement of MSWs.
Conclusions: Our result suggests that the above four factors may lead to involvement of MSWs. The SHR checklist-records may be useful for extracting the necessity of involvement of MSWs, though further improvements based on the results of this study are needed.

Aim: Consideration should be given to the usability of AEDs, which are operated by general citizens as well. A survey of AED's usability was conducted involving dental hygiene students, whose situation was considered to be close to that of general citizens.
Methods: The 42 participants were told that the study researcher was responsible for cardiac massage of the casualty, and they were in charge of operating the AED. The participants operated the AED and observed the process of delivering a shock. Later on, a 90-minute emergency lecture was provided, after which the same experiment was conducted in order to make comparisons. Six types (A-F) of AED trainers were used.
Results: Eight out of 21 participants had difficulty opening the lid of the AED. After the lecture, the time from when the participants were asked to operate the AED to the initiation of ECG analysis was shortened by 17.0-66.0 seconds, and the time from when the AED's "shock" button began to flash to pressing it was shortened by 0.8-4.8 seconds. Voice guidance on how to operate AEDs differs according to their type. Some AEDs direct their users to check respiration and/or the pulse, and some only direct their users to take off the rescued person's clothes and attach AED pads according to the illustrations provided. Eleven out of 42 participants attached AED pads with the right and left sides reversed.
Conclusion: There are some issues regarding the usability of AEDs when they are operated by general citizens. It is necessary to resolve these issues.

Purpose: We examined the effects and problems associated with new medical treatments at the Kobe City Fire Bureau.
Subjects and Methods: Of the patients transported by our ambulance at Kobe City Fire Bureau from 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015, 698 cases underwent measurement of blood sugar and had a glucose injection for suspected hypoglycemia. These 698 cases formed the study cohort. The age, sex, blood glucose level, prevalence of successful catheterization, altered state of consciousness, and mean time of activity at the scene of the emergency were investigated.
Results: A total of 202 cases had a blood glucose level <50 mg/dl. Intravenous catheterization was attempted in 137 cases, and was successful in ≈80% of cases. Glucose was administered in 106 cases. Altered consciousness was improved before hospital admission in 101 cases. The mean time of activity at the scene of the emergency was extended by 4 minutes and 57 seconds for patients who had to have their blood sugar measured. The mean time of activity at the scene of the emergency for patients who required glucose administration was extended by 11 minutes and 22 seconds, but the glucose administration on the site seemed to be effective of shortening for an average of 12 minutes and 14 seconds for the comparison group.
Conclusion: The glucose dose given before hospital admission by the Kobe City Fire Bureau was shown to improve the altered consciousness due to hypoglycemia. Further improvements in intravenous catheterization and shortening the mean time of activity at the scene of the emergency are needed.