• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.23-39
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• 2006

In Korea, There are many disasters, like the collapse of Sampung department store, the strike of severe typhoon 'Rusa' and the subway tragedy in Taegu, because of global warming, urbanization, high-density and high-rise of buildings. So, the government made 'The Framework Act' on the safe and management of disaster and 'The National Emergency Management Agency' was established. But emergency medical service systems in Korea is not growing so much. The purpose of this research is to give basic data for the development of emergency medical service systems in Disaster by comparing of disaster management systems and emergency medical systems among the nations of the world, analysing emergency medical systems in disaster in Korea and suggesting some improvement methods. The improvment methods are like this ; First, establishing the National Disaster Medical System in Korea, making the good triage by EMT, expansion of EMT's working area, developing protocols and framing of medical director increasing the working force of EMT, broad inner cavity of ambulance for treatment of patientent, supplement of professional equipments, active using of helicopters are needed in prehospital are. Second, equal establishment of emergency medical center and increase of working force of emergency medical team are needed in hospital area. Finally, enforcement of the dispatcher's qualification, smooth communication among EMSS systems and actualization of medical direction through screen are needed in the Telecommunication system.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.65-80
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• 2003

Various disasters have been continuously occurred in Korea from 1990s to now. However, there is no substantial improvement against damages as compared with the past due to various reasons such as lack of fundamental recognition, ineffective response systems and widespread insensitivity to safety. More worse, new types of disasters have been frequently generated due to rapid changes in social structures and industrial development, unusual changes in weather and changes of international situations. These disasters request comprehensive countermeasures. In particular, while material damages by disasters can be recovered, the losses of precious lives cannot be recuperated in any ways. Thus, it is critical to set effective disaster medical plans. The first way to minimize damages by disasters is the prevention and the next is to set the disaster medical plans focusing on preliminarily activating the emergency medical system to rapidly rescue and take appropriate emergency medical services for casualties in the early stage when any disaster occurs. Nevertheless, no sufficient researches or references do not exist up to now. Even worse, effective emergency medical systems that play critical roles in increasing survival rates of casualties in actual disaster areas is not deployed. For the United States, the consistent countermeasure system is established in FEMA through a close cooperative system with relevant organizations for serious accidents including terrorists' attacks or natural disasters. For the emergency medical services in disasters, the disaster medical plan is set to cope with any disasters in perfect order by special area as operating the National Disaster Medical SystemESF#8 Role by FEMA. Accordingly, we need to set the extensive and integrated disaster prevention system for rapid and flexible operation against various kinds of serious accidents. This study identified overall problems in disaster control plans in Korea and suggested how to improve the emergency medical service system in disaster areas. Furthermore, it aims to prepare the basic data to set the effective emergency medical service plans when substantial casualties break out and more reasonable and systematic disaster control plans to cope with the future occurrence of serious disasters.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.19-31
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• 2019

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate disaster preparedness competence and disaster response competence of paramedics working in emergency medical centers operating a disaster medical assistance teams. Methods: Data of 174 emergency medical technician(EMT)-paramedics were collected from July 15 to August 14, 2018 at regional and local emergency medical centers that operate disaster medical assistant team. Analysis of the data was carried out with IBM SPSS statistics 24.0 software (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). Results: The mean disaster preparedness competence score was $3.57{\pm}0.63$ (out of five). Participants' disaster preparedness competence significantly differed according to type of emergency medical center (p<.000), disaster education experience (p<.000), and education frequency (p=.001). The mean disaster response competence score was $4.09{\pm}0.57$ (out of five). Participants' disaster response competence significantly differed according to disaster education experience (p<.000) and medical assistance experience (p=.045). Conclusion: Emergency medical technician-paramedics without disaster training should first be provided with this training. Further, it is important for EMT-paramedics to know their disaster preparedness and response capacities and strengthen their shortcomings. It is also important to develop education and training programs that properly equip EMT-paramedics with practical competencies.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.17-32
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• 2023

Purpose: We aimed to identify disaster preparedness, disaster response competency, and willingness to participate in disaster response among university students. Methods: Data were collected from the paramedic students after consent to this study through online. The period of data collection was from June 13 to August 3, 2023 and 207 questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS 27.0 program. Results: The subject's disaster preparedness was 7.67±3.10 out of 15, disaster response competency was 2.79±0.69 out of 5, and willingness to participate in disaster response was 6.06±4.59 out of 15. There was a significant difference in disaster preparedness depending on the disaster education experience (p<.001), in disaster response competency depending on the number of courses completed (p<.05), in willingness to participate in disaster response in cases of disaster experience (p<.05) and number of times disaster education was completed (F=3.146, p=.047). In particular, if the number of disaster training courses completed was three or more, disaster response competency and willingness to participate in disaster response were significantly high. There was a significant positive correlation between the subjects' disaster preparedness and disaster response competency (r=.655, p<.001). Conclusion: Three or more sessions of continuous disaster education is important, it will be necessary to develop educational content that matches the characteristics of the target subjects or college.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.17-25
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• 2019

Purpose: Despite the fact that the needs for disaster emergency medical facilities to minimize casualties are increasing, research for emergency medical facilities is insufficient compared to research for DMAT investment. A management strategy for emergency medical facilities in disaster site needs to be proposed. Methods: Recently there was introduction of mobile hospital system using unit modular method, but it was found out to be used only in disaster emergency training. Emergency medical facilities in disaster site require various tasks. Examination for our research was carried out through consultations with emergency medical and mobile hospital expert because there is no practical use case to apply Emergency Medical Facilities in Korea. Result: In this research we proposed a management strategy to manage and operate emergency medical facilities composed of tent, unit module and container in the aspects of management efficiency. Implications: It is highly expected to establish a foundation for fast and accurate disaster emergency medical facilities deployment by applying the results of our research to Emergency response manual of disaster emergency medical service.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.73-85
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand currently active Korean paramedics' disaster response abilities, including immediate response, severity classification, patient treatment, and patient transfer, in a disaster situation with multiple casualties. Methods: A structured questionnaire consisting of a total of 25 questions was used, including 5 questions on the subject's general characteristics and 20 questions on disaster-related emergency response abilities. Results: Among the disaster response abilities of the participants, the patient transport ability scores were high and the cooperative support ability scores were low. In terms of general characteristics, there was a significant difference in age, and it was high in the 40s, and there was a significant positive correlation between each competency. Conclusion: These results suggest that there is an urgent need to develop a systematic and specialized educational system with components inside and outside fire departments related to multiple casualty disasters to improve overall abilities.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.21-36
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• 2022

Purpose: This descriptive research study aimed to investigate the knowledge and perception of the natural disaster medical system by relevant disaster medical response teams in Jeonnam region, and provide baseline data for a disaster education program based on analysis of priorities of educational demand. Methods: Online questionnaires were distributed to 200 research participants including paramedics from five fire stations in J province, 22 public health centers, two disaster base hospitals, ERU (Emergency Response Units), and DMAT (Disaster Medical Assistance Team). The questionnaires elicited basic information about respondents, their knowledge and perception on disaster preparation and response, cooperation system, and educational and training needs. Results: The top priority items selected were: other disasters for paramedics, first aid for the rapid response team, and command system for DMAT. Conclusion: Customized education and training programs must be developed to suit each organizational need. Detailed operational guidelines must be established and with them a unified educational curriculum should be put into practice.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.65-78
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the core competency and educational needs of paramedic students in disaster management. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was completed by 207 paramedic students between June 1 and October 29, 2017. The study instrument included disaster preparedness (15 items), disaster management core competency (26 items), disaster education needs (26 items). Data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, and Duncan's multiple range test using IBM SPSS 24.0. Results: The students reported that only 13% had experienced or witnessed disasters; however, 95.2% would be willing to help in the event of a disaster. Their disaster preparedness was 1.84 points on a 3-point scale. We did see differences in disaster preparedness by background: hospital practice (F=5.352, p=.001); fire-fighting practice (F=8.994, p=.000). The students had a core competency of disaster management at 3.25 points on a 5-point scale with differences depending on major satisfaction (F=3.760, p=.006). The level of student demands for disaster education was 4.29 points. Conclusion: If variety of educational environments are provided for disaster-related learning and training, the core competency of disaster management for paramedic students will improve. The students will be available as disaster management experts in various fields, even after graduation.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.55-66
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• 2018

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the disaster response competencies of 119 emergency medical technicians (EMTs). Methods: The subjects of this study were 226 119 EMT's at the fire station located in G province. The questionnaire consisted of 5 sub-factors and 29 items for measuring disaster response competencies and the collected data were analyzed using SPSS program. Results: Disaster response competency comprising immediate response, patient triage, patient treatment, patient transport, and collaboration support were 3.48, 3.64, 3.52, 3.64, and 3.16, respectively. Advanced EMTs scored significantly higher in patient triage (p<.001), treatment (p<.001), and transport (p=.022) competency than basic EMTs. Conclusion: In order to improve disaster response competency, it is necessary not only to enhance individual ability but also to continue disaster management training with related organizations.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.235-246
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• 2003

Due to major disasters Korea has been damaged, and they caused lots of casualties: for last ten years natural disasters caused 1288 deaths including missing people; human disasters including industrial disasters brought as many as 4,512.148 casual ties (126,372 deaths with 4,385,400 injuries); and they cost 44.1 trillion property damage. However, even though major disasters have brought about tremendous human loss and property damage, Koreas National Disaster Medical System to rescue casualties is insufficient, and it has not been activated. Fortunately, through major disaster management process, the National Disaster Management System has been developed, increasing its own efficiency, and resulting in to organize an Office of Firefighting and Prevention of Disasters under the central government. Considering the value of human lives, the disaster medical part, in the U.S.A. as well as in Korea, must have an independent organization in the government, not as one sector of the government department. It will have its own organizational structure, such as disaster planning, operation, and logistics, and interact with central and local government or between local government agencies. So each agency will cooperate and supply resources interchangeably. Also, with the system of disaster management and restoration, the disaster medical system must be advanced in keeping step. Its role must be extended due to the possibility of biological terror or SARS around the world, resulting in severe casualties. Korea has the Emergency Medical Service System based on the regulation of emergency medical care, yet it is a part of the National Disaster Management System. It must be managed independently apart from it. As we see the emergency medical technicians playing as the backbone in disaster medical care in the US, we should have legal foundations for Koreas emergency medical technicians, emergency medical providers, to participate in rescue operation actively. At the same time, we need to have a national register system to classify disaster medical resources, and a total plan to place resources according to the impact of disaster, and how to organize teams. We also need to draw up a scheme to activate civil disaster medical resources, as integrating public and private or voluntary organizations.