[What medical technologists can do in disaster...--experiences and prospects--introduction]

Disasters in medical treatment are defined as, "Huge numbers of casualties are generated who cannot be accepted by regional medical facilities", and when more casualties are generated than the regions can accept it is a "Disaster", e.g. earthquake, typhoon or bus, train and aircraft accidents. Although the definition of disasters is invariable, recently, the actual disaster scale has been increasing along with changes in the living environment. Therefore, we should think seriously about what medical technologists should do first at a disaster base hospital in order to provide accurate lab data immediately after a disaster in which many patients are transported in a short time. In this symposium, the experiences and preliminary conditions in disasters were presented from the medical technologists' point of view at a disaster base hospital. Needless to say, the purpose of this symposium is to learn from simulations and experiences of disasters, to think what we should do under limited conditions, and to share information obtained from our experiences.