초록
Purpose: Korean medical services are not balanced across regions and social classes. To prevent mortality gaps, Korea must distribute its medical resources more efficiently. Patient factors affecting emergency room visits serve as basic data for determining best practices for public healthcare distribution. Methods: The data included 18 473 visits by 14 949 de-identified patients who visited a public emergency room over one year. The dependent variable was the number of emergency room visits. A Poisson regression was conducted with the independent variables, comprising sociodemographic, socioeconomic, and spatial accessibility factors and patient characteristics. Results: Older men with higher Korean Triage and Acuity Scale scores visited more frequently. Greater patient-hospital distance decreased visits; however, the presence of a hospital within 1 km of a patient's residence did not affect the number of visits. The use of 119 services was negatively correlated with the number of visits. Visits increased with more medical benefits. Conclusions: Patient age, distance to hospital, use of 119 services, and medical benefits should be considered when planning or managing public hospitals in Korea.