During disasters, treatment and nursing for people requiring support with special needs, such as
patients with intractable diseases, must not be interrupted even in shelters. Disasters directly threaten
the lives of patients using life-support systems.
To promote smooth treatment and care in disaster shelters, the present study examined and extracted
information regarding necessary treatment and care conditions for patients using home mechanical
ventilation.
From all public health centers, supporting patients with intractable diseases operated by
prefectures/designated cities, base and specialized hospitals for the treatment of intractable diseases,
councils of home-visit nursing service offices, and home-visit nursing service offices throughout Japan,
934 facilities were randomly selected to collect their <disaster management manuals>, <disaster
preparedness guides>, <handbooks on emergency medicine>, and <handbooks on disaster medicine>
with their cooperation. The information regarding treatment and nursing contained in these materials
was classified into different contents, and the number of contents and proportion of each content were
calculated.
There were 126 types of guides and handbooks, and the information contained in them was classified
into 206 contents (100%), which were summarized into 11 categories: 1) basic information, 2) insurance
classification, 3) ADL, 4) shelters, 5) contacts, 6) medications, 7) vital signs, 8) nutrition, 9) airway
maintenance/management, 10) home oxygen therapy, and 11) mechanical ventilation.
Furthermore, types of information that should be prioritized were extracted from these categories.
These types will be generalized throughout Japan to some extent as the minimum necessary
information for treatment and nursing.