Abstract
The history of trauma services and systems and emergency medical services in Japan is very recent, the first agency being established in 1947. From a very modest beginning, systems have now been devised and put into place which provide a comprehensive national network of centres for the seriously ill and injured. Included are a number of Emergency and Critical Care Medical Centres reaching USA and European Level 1 Trauma Centre standards. Supporting these centres is a prehospital system that includes paramedics and emergency life-saving technicians. Further developments have included the establishment of the Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, which supervises and accredits doctors training in these fields. The overall result of these initiatives is that the standard of care for the seriously ill and injured in Japan is now reaching levels found in leading centres globally.
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