ABSTRACT
Introduction The large-scale international events of the 2015 World Scout Organization Movement (WOSM) were held in Yamaguchi, Japan. Thirty-three thousand participants from 155 nations gathered for 12 days and held an exchange program. We provided health care service facilities and a staff of 200 multinational medical professionals to address various health concerns. The health issues as well as the strategies on how to organize multinational medical staff in the event are described in the study.Methods The author analyzed the contents of the conference/meeting documents, operation manual, daily reports, memorandum, and other various reports, and evaluated the system and activities of the medical services. There was one medical facility (JH) and four first aid points (FAP) on site. Two hundred medical professionals from 20 different countries volunteered to participate in WOSM, and comprised the international service team (IST). We divided IST members into several groups according to their specialties, professional experience, gender, and nationality. Results During the event, there were 3,247 patients at the JH. The major illnesses were heat stroke, dehydration, common colds, pharyngitis, upper respiratory tract inflammations, contusions, cut, sunburn, and sunlight dermatitis. There were 2,291 visitors to the FAPs, and the most frequent ailments were shoe sores, contusions, cuts, heat stroke, dehydration, sunburn, and sunlight dermatitis. While there were differences in medical culture, there were no problems with administering medical treatment or communicating within the teams.Conclusions Individuals who visit Japan during the summer need to be educated on preventative measures for sunburn, sunlight dermatitis, and heat stroke. There were two reasons why multinational medical professionals collaborated in this difficult environment. First, even though there were different cultural backgrounds, medical professionals could still share cultural values. Second, there was good communication and therefore less stress within the work environment.