Current assessment and proposed improvement to emergency medical information systems in Japan.

Abstract

Most prefectural governments in Japan have been implementing, or planning to implement, emergency medical information systems that take advantage of advanced information-related technologies such as computers and communication systems, in order to improve their emergency medical care systems. We studied the emergency medical information systems to analyse their present status, clarify their purpose, and present the ideal system, in view of community health care requirements. Here the results of the research are examined, and there is a discussion of what is needed to improve the system in the future. The emergency medical information system in Aichi prefecture is taken as an example, to closely survey its present situation and analyse the evaluation of the system by the residents who are the major beneficiaries of the system.