• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.141-171
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• 2019

Nurses are medical personnels under the Medical Service Act and perform medical practice such as medical assistance at medical institutions. The nurse, a medical personnel, provides emergency medical service to emergency patients in the pre-hospital emergency medical system as a 119 rescuer based on the Act on 119 Rescue and Emergency Medical Services. The scope of practice of nurses is comprehensively defined in the Medical Service Act and specified through precedents. In contrast, The scope of work of emergency medical technician is listed in detail. It is understood that nurses in the pre-hospital emergency medical service system have a wider scope of practice than emergency medical technician. In particular, the scope of practice of nurses as emergency medical personnel in the pre-hospital emergency medical system should be interpreted differently within the medical institution, considering the urgency of the patient, being transferred to the emergency medical institution, and the specificity of medical direction through tele-communication.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.373-379
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• 2012

This study surveyed the image of hospital emergency medical technicians with 122 emergency medical service providers (doctors and nurses) working at tertiary medical institutions in Daejeon and Chungcheongnam.do in order to provide basic materials for enhancing the status and professional image of hospital emergency medical technicians. According to the results of this study, the overall image was $3.27{\pm}0.34$, and by its sub.area, professional image was highest and role image was lowest. By item, 'Maintain a friendly relations with doctors' was highest, and 'Arrogant and negligent in job performance' was lowest. In order to enhance their image, hospital emergency medical technicians need to assume a sincere attitude toward patients and colleagues consistently, to strengthen their professionalism, and to carry out their duties and roles faithfully. What is more, the association should take proper measures and to establish the sound image of emergency medical technician as a professional through active campaigns and monitoring using mass media.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.37-80
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• 2022

By analyzing informed consent and the refusal of emergency medical treatment (called patient dumping) under the current Emergency Medical Service Act, this study suggests that an emergency medical professional is only liable for patient dumping if their duty to protect the patient's life takes precedence over the patient's right to self-determination. In emergency medical situations, as in general medical situations, medical treatment should be performed after the emergency medical professional informs the patient about the medical treatment, including its necessity and methods, and obtains consent from the patient. Refusing or evading the performance of emergency medical services on the excuse of the informed consent not considering a waiver or alteration of informed consent requirements without reasonable reasons violates the Emergency Medical Service Act and thus makes an emergency medical professional liable to administrative disposition or criminal penalty. In other words, depending on the existence of a waiver of alteration of the informed consent, patient dumping may be established. If the patient is a minor or has no decision-making ability, and their legal representative makes a decision against the patient's medical interests, the opinion of the legal representative is not unconditionally respected. A minor also has the right to decide over their body, and the decisions of their legal representatives should be in the patient's best interests. If the patient refuses treatment, in principle, the obligation of life protection of emergency medical professionals is the top priority. However, making these decisions in the aforementioned situations in the emergency medical field is difficult because of the absence of explicit regulations regarding these exceptional problems. This study aims to organize the following precedents of the Supreme Court of Korea. The court states that, when balancing the conflicting interests between the duty to provide emergency medical service and the duty to inform is unavoidable for emergency medical professionals, they should put the duty to protect the patient's life ahead of the duty to inform if the patient's life matters. Exceptionally, when a patient has seriously considered whether they should receive treatment before the emergency medical situation, their right to self-determination can be considered equal to the obligation of emergency medical professionals to provide emergency medical treatment. This research also suggests that an amendment of the Emergency Medical Service Act should include the following. First, the criteria for determining the decision-making ability of emergency patients should consist of medical content. Second, additional consent from a medical professional is unnecessary for first-aid treatment. Finally, new provisions for emergency medical obligations for minors, new provisions for the decision standard when there are conflicting opinions about the treatment of a patient, and new penalty provisions for professionals who suspend emergency medical examinations and treatments need to be established.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.105-124
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• 2023

Modern society is facing an unstable environment due to unexpected accidents and hazardous situations. For example, incidents such as the collapse of the Bundang Bridge and the crushing accident in Itaewon could serve as examples. In addition to these, critical emergencies like sudden cardiac arrests and strokes frequently occur, requiring swift actions and smooth transfers to specialized medical institutions for effective responses. In response to these risks, the country has been establishing various systems to protect the lives and safety of its citizens. Among these, the 119 First Aid Activities plays a crucial role within the emergency medical system. Its goal is to promptly respond to critical emergency situations involving severe trauma patients or patients with serious illnesses, minimizing damage and safeguarding lives by swiftly transferring them to emergency medical institutions for specialized treatment. The core activity related to this is emergency rescue operations. In particular, the 119 First Aid system serves as a crucial institution responsible for the hospital transportation of emergency patients. However, rescue personnel still encounter cases of interference with their activities during their duties. Despite efforts from the police, these interference cases persist, and they share similarities with the crime of obstructing official duties. Interference with emergency activities exhibits a comparable nature to instances such as physical assaults and equipment damage against emergency medical practitioners working within the emergency medical system. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding and improvement efforts regarding the issues of interference that arise during the process of emergency medical activities, including the 119 First Aid system, are necessary. The solution to these problems is to establish and improve the conditions for obstruction of first aid activities, focusing on the "Framework Act on Firefighting" and the "Act on 119 Rescue and Emergency."

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.2908-2914
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• 2013

This study investigated hospital EMT' scope of work perceived by emergency medical service providers by surveying 122 emergency medical service providers working at university hospitals in Daejeon and Chung-nam in order to provide basic materials for improving EMT' roles and legal regulations related to their works and enhancing the quality of emergency medical services. According to the results of this study was $3.23{\pm}0.67$ for the 40 items surveyed, which was somewhat higher than average. By area, job awareness was highest for trauma care, which was followed by hospital phase and breathing assistance, and lowest for medication. In order for emergency medical service providers to recognize hospital EMT' works, first of all, EMT need to carry out their jobs and roles faithfully. Therefore, educational institutions should provide substantial education programs. What is more, legally clear definitions should be made on the job of EMT, and campaigns and monitoring should be made continuously for EMT.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.91-101
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• 1999

The medicolegal problem can be occurred in all medical field. Especially pre-hospital stage can be more exposed to the legal claims due to the very nature of EMT business and characteristics of ER patient or their family member. All Emergency Medical Technician should be concerned about the law associated with emergency care for handling the medicolegal problem, so the legally risky situations that may be occurred in pre-hospital stage and ER practice. This study reviewed malpractice claim of emergency patients filed in at Association of malpractice patients' family and two tertiary level hospitals. Problems related to treatment and misdiagnosis. Especially issues concerning emergency medical service system including of inadequate transport, delay in triage and transport accounted for many cases of all claims. This alerts us to the seriousness of medical accidents of emergency patient. This paper suggests several items that all E.M.T and every member of ED health care team always have to remember the medicolegally risk situations, must be trained in understanding the patients' wants and desires and should have the knowledge of the law associated with emergency health care. Develop the system that can share the informations about the medicolegal events which were experienced by each ED health care institutes.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.175-182
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to identify low pain prevalence rate and factors affecting low back pain in emergency medical technicians. Method: A descriptive relationship research design was utilized. The participants were 74 emergency medical technicians who worked at fire stations in W and J city and agreed to participate in this study. Data were collected between April and August 2008 using a questionnaire, which included demographic factors, severity of low back pain using a visual analog scale, factors related to low back pain and health behavior, and BMI. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression were performed for data analysis. Results: 85.1% of emergency medical technicians experienced low back pain. The mean score of low back pain was relatively low (M=4.0, SD=2.33). Significant factors affecting low back pain were found to be age, marital status, exercise, hours of standing work, and BMI. These variables explained 35.1% of variance in low back pain (F=8.45, p<.001). Conclusion: These results suggest that further research is needed to develop interventions for prevention and management of low back pain among emergency medical technicians.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.411-420
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• 2011

Purpose: The aim of this study was to exam differences in awareness and ethical attitudes associated with Do-Not- Resuscitate (DNR) among emergency department's team. Method: The participants in this study were 402 emergency department's team working in the 41 hospitals. The data was collected by using "awareness measuring tool" by Kang (2003) and "ethical attitudes measuring tool" by Ko (2004) from May 1 to September 15, 2009. Collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient using SPSS WIN 14.0 program. Results: 74.4% of subjects was responded that they had never been educated about DNR, but 73.9% of subjects was responded that they had experienced DNR in the emergency room. The majority of subjects responded that the patients and their families should make a decision about the DNR. There was a difference in an appropriate time for explanation of DNR among emergency department's team. There was a difference in ethical attitudes associated with Do-Not- Resuscitate among emergency department's team. Conclusion: For a professional and systematic approach to the problem, DNR guideline sufficient to elicit a social consensus is needed.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.322-333
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the quality of life of emergency medical workers on their stress and job satisfaction. The subjects in this study were 209 selected emergency medical workers who worked shifts in the emergency medical centers of general hospitals located in two different provinces. A survey was conducted from March 1 to June 30, 2015. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS 20.0 for Windows usingfrequency analysis, factor analysis, Cronbach alpha coefficients, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. The findings of the study were as follows: First, the quality of life was correlated with stress and job satisfaction. Second, the quality of life was found to have affected the levels of physical and psychological stress(p<.001). Third, the quality of life was found to have exercised an influence on job satisfaction. Job satisfaction was under the significant influence of post-sleep recovery, difficulty in falling asleep, difficulty in getting up and difficulty in sleep maintenance. Fourth, psychological stress was found to have had a partial impact on job satisfaction(p<.01). Given the findings of this study, an appropriate increase in staffing and the guarantee of proper sleeping hours are necessary to improve the quality of sleep. Moreover, the development of programs that aim at relieving physical and psychological stress is required. Thus, various institutional measures should be taken to boost job satisfaction.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.4359-4367
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the self- regulation of paramedics on their job satisfaction and turnover intention. The subjects in this study were 300 paramedics who worked at general and larger hospitals. A survey was conducted for about four months from May 6 to August 30, 2012. As for data analysis, the statistical package SPSS WIN 18.0 was employed to make a frequency analysis, and the reliability of the instrument used was checked. A factor analysis was made, and a correlation analysis was carried out to look for connections between the variables, and a multiple regression analysis was utilized. Concerning the general characteristics of the respondents, many of the respondents were female, in their 20s, unmarried and received junior-college or higher education. Self-regulation had a very close correlation to job satisfaction and turnover intention, and self-regulation affected the subfactors of job satisfaction. Self-regulation exerted an influence on job satisfaction and turnover intention. The findings of the study are expected to suggest how to boost the job satisfaction of paramedics to step up the development of the organization that they belong to.