[Emergency Care System in Otolaryngology]

Otolaryngologists play a very important role in the field of emergency care in otolaryngology because their field requires a particular expertise in dealing with a variety of diseases. However, the emergency medical service system at night or during holidays has not yet been completely organized. Clarification of the present problems is essential to improve our emergency medical service system. Thus, we investigated the present state of otolaryngological emergency care in Tokyo and in Kyorin University Hospital. In Tokyo, outpatient clinics and hospitals see the emergency patients in the otolaryngology field by rotation during holidays. More than 13,000 patients were referred to the outpatient clinics, and more than 2, 000 patients were referred to the hospitals per year using this emergency care system. There are some problem with this system. One is that patients have to rush to a hospital in consecutive holidays and the other is that only a few clinics and hospitals see patients at night. Otolaryngologists have to regard these problem as an otolaryngologist-wide issue. For both public administration or academic societies a site for discussion needs to be provided.