災害医療における Acute Care Surgeon の役割―外傷診療の延長線上に災害医療がある―

Shimane University Hospital is a disaster base hospital and maintains a disaster medical assistance team(DMAT). In January 2016 the first department of Acute Care Surgery was established in Japan, and in April of the same year the Advanced Trauma Center opened. Acute care surgeons belonging to the department are all members of the Japan DMAT. Acute care surgeons are often involved in disasters. This report addresses acute care surgery's involvement in disaster medical care at Shimane University Hospital. It is important to plan the type of treatment to be provided during the pre-hospital, reception, definitive care, and recovery phases; these are the response phases at the hospital following a major incident. Ideally, the acute care surgeon, who can provide treatment(including pre-hospital, primary, definitive, and intensive care), should be involved in planning, training, and implementation. It is no exaggeration to say that disaster medicine is an extension of trauma care; disaster medicine is also a specialty of acute care surgery.