Abstract
Objectives: By analyzing data of pediatric patients who had visited the emergency room of an oriental medical hospital, we can understand their characteristics and diseases. The purpose of this study was to introduce the excellence of Oriental medicine, to develop various treatments and to revitalize pediatric emergency care at oriental medical hospital. Methods: The study was composed of 371 pediatric patients who had visited the emergency room of the $\bigcirc\bigcirc$ university oriental hospital from January 2008 to December 2009. Results: 1. Average age of the pediatric patients was 4.28 years old, and it has showed that 1 to 3 years old patients (36.7%) were the most common age. 2. The number of pediatric patients was increased in June. According to the weekly distribution data, the number of pediatric patients who had visited on Sunday was the most (29.1%). Also, the number of pediatric patients who had visited ER for 18 to 21 hours(35.6%) were the most common. 3. The major problems of hospitalization were digestive symptoms and nervous symptoms. The nervous symptoms were the most at infancy. The musculoskeletal symptoms were the most common in adolescence. The digestive symptoms were common in other stages of development. 4. The time interval between arrival and onset; within 6 hours were the most(48.0%). Acupuncture and herbal medication treatment(75.2%) were the most common medical treatments. Most of the pediatric patients(97.3%) were discharged after medical treatments. Conclusions: Pediatric patients who had visited emergency room at the oriental medical hospital were mostly not due to acute form of serious diseases. The most common disease states that have preferred to treat with oriental medicine were dyspepsia, crying, febrile fit, and ankle sprain. We have to introduce the excellence of oriental medicine, and we need to try to develop other treatments such as magnetic acupuncture, moxa therapy, aroma therapy and revitalize pediatric emergency care at oriental medical hospital.