Using a cloud-based electronic health record during disaster response: a case study in Fukushima, March 2011.

Following the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, the Japan Medical Association deployed medical disaster teams to Shinchi-town (population: approximately 8,000), which is located 50 km north of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The mission of the medical disaster teams sent from Fukuoka, 1,400 km south of Fukushima, was to provide medical services and staff a temporary clinic for six weeks. Fear of radiation exposure restricted the use of large medical teams and local infrastructure. Therefore, small volunteer groups and a cloud-hosted, web-based electronic health record were implemented. The mission was successfully completed by the end of May 2011. Cloud-based electronic health records deployed using a "software as a service" model worked well during the response to the large-scale disaster.