• 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.2
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• pp.51-63
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• 2023

Purpose: The study aimed to analyze the occurrence and transfer status of emergency patients at Incheon International Airport in Korea. Methods: This study design included 810 patients for eight years, from July 1, 2014 to June 31, 2022. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS statistics version 25.0. Results: For the demographics, 531 (65.6%) were males, 151 (19.5%) were in the highest age group (in their 50s), and 289 (35.9%) were foreigners. The most common place of occurrence was in protected areas in the passenger terminal, with 341 (42.1%) of cases occurring here. The time of arrival at the site (z=-3.444, p=.001), stay duration at the site (z=-8.145, p=. 001), and transfer time (z=-3.623, p=.000) were all significantly longer. Conclusion: It is necessary to consider a rapid emergency transportation plan, such as developing a system that simplifies immigration procedures when emergency patients move from protected areas to general areas. Moreover, in order to quickly respond to foreign emergency patients, detailed characteristics will need to be identified. Lastly, considering the long transfer time, an instructing doctor should accompany an ambulance and actively perform advanced resuscitation.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.71-84
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• 2009

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to analyze the proportion of admission via the emergency room(the rest is ER) in an emergency medical center and to examine the factors related to admission. Methods : This study used 2005 National Health Insurance claims data for admitted patients of 112 hospitals having emergency medical centers in Korea. The study sample had 2,335,610 patients. The data was classified into emergency admission and non-emergency admission. To investigate the factors affecting the type of admission, the following were included as independent variables: type of health assurance_(national health insurance beneficiaries or medical aid beneficiaries), demographic characteristics_ (sex, age), cause of admission_ (disease or injury), whether an operation was performed or not, DRG severity level, the number of beds, and the location of the hospital. Data were analyzed using the Chi-square test for the differences in emergency admission rates for each variables, and multiple logistic regression analysis was used for identifying the factors affecting admission type. Results : The proportion of admission via the ER accounted for 40.6% of the total admission among hospitals having emergency medical centers. The risk of admission via ER was relatively high for patients who were male, the aged, the injured, the surgical patients, the patients having more severe symptoms, and the patients admitted the hospitals located in metropolitan areas, and the patients admitted the hospitals having 300-699 beds. Medical aid patients were more likely admitted through the emergency room than health insurance patients after other variables ware adjusted. Conclusions and Discussion : We analyzed the proportion of admission via the ER for the total admission rate of hospitals having an emergency medical center in Korea. And we explored the factors related to admission via the ER. This proportion may be used as an indicator of the adequacy of medical utilization or low accessibility to hospitals of patients with low socioeconomic status.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.249-254
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• 2021

Introduction: Workplace violence (WPV) is a major occupational and health hazard for nurses. It affects nurses' physical and psychological well-being and impacts health service delivery. We aimed to assess the prevalence and describe the consequences of WPV experienced by nurses working in an emergency department in Kenya. Methods: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study among emergency nurses at one of the largest tertiary hospitals in Kenya. We collected data using a structured questionnaire adapted from the 'WPV in the Health Sector, Country Case Studies Research Instruments' questionnaire. We described the prevalence and effects of WPV using frequencies and percentages. Results: Of the 82 participating nurses, 64.6% were female, 57.3% were married and 65.8% were college-educated (65.8%). Participants' mean age was 33.8 years (standard deviation: 6.8 years, range: 23-55). The overall lifetime prevalence of WPV was 81.7% (n = 67, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 71.6%-88.8%) and the 1-year prevalence was 73.2% (n = 63, 95% CI: 66.3-84.8%). The main WPV included verbal abuse, physical violence, and sexual harassment. Most incidents were perpetrated by patients and their relatives. No action was taken in 50% of the incidents, but 57.1% of physical violence incidents were reported to the hospital security and 28.6% to supervisors. Perpetrators of physical violence were verbally warned (42.9%) and reported to the hospital security (28.6%). Conclusion: Workplace violence is a significant problem affecting emergency nurses in Kenya. Hospitals should promote workplace safety with zero-tolerance to violence. Nurses should be sensitised on WPV to mitigate violence and supported when they experience WPV.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.119-128
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• 2007

It is happening a lot that the pediatric patients who are offering help in emergency room with background 119 rescuer require emergency care compared to adults. Our study was conducted to have a clear grasp of the status quo of pediatric patients who are offering help in emergency room with 119 rescuer. METHOD & OBJECT pediatric patients under 8 age who were offering help was conducted as objects by 119 cases from January, 2006 to January 2007, with 119 rescuer at C university hospital in Gwangju metropolitan city, which were 87 cases for a boy(73.1%), 32 cases for a girl. Based on emergency diary of emergency members and the medical treatment record of emergency room in C university hospital, a disease and a type of an external wound were analyzed according to ages of these patients, a time zone and season. RESULT In terms of an age, 25 cases(21.0%) have less than 1 age extremelymuch, in case of emergency, 61 cases(51.3%), which were more than non-emergency, in terms of happened places of patients, there were households up to 78 cases(65.5%) extremely much. In terms of happened time, 13:00 to 18:00 have highest data up to 48 cases(40.3%). According to season, there were no big differences in 4 seasons(spring : 30.3%, summer : 24.4%, fall : 29.4%, winter : 16.0%). In case of being offered help at emergency room due to diseases, 1-2 ages have highest estimate with 55.7%, in terms of a time zone, 19:00-24:00 have highest with 33.7%, in terms of season, summer(6, 7, 8) have highest with 32.8%. in case of traffic accident, 7-8 age have highest with 47.1%, according to a time zone, 13:00 to 18:00 have highest with 88.2%, according to season, fall have highest with 64.7%. In case of an external wound, 3-4 age have highest with 38.2%, according to a time zone, 13:00-18:00 have highest with 41.2%, according to season, spring have highest with 38.2%. CONCLUSION It shows that in case of pediatric patients who were offering help at emergency room with 119 rescuer, a pediatric under 1 age was due to a disease, in case of an external wound, there were 3-4 age, in case of traffic accident, 7-8 age have highest, a case for emergency have highest.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.87-97
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• 2021

Purpose: This study examined emergency medical service (EMS) transportation patterns for adult trauma patients before and after establishing a level 1 regional trauma center (RTC) and to evaluate the transportation approach after prehospital severity screening. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study of trauma patients aged ≥18 years admitted via EMS to the emergency department or a level 1 RTC, 1 year before to 3 years after RTC establishment. Patients with an Injury Severity Score (ISS) in the patient registration system were selected. Analyses were performed to determine transportation pattern changes by comparing patients pre- and post-RTC establishment and by yearly comparisons over the 4-year study period using the Mann-Whitney U test and chi-square test. Results: Overall, 3,587 patients were included. The mean ISS was higher in the post-RTC group (n=2,693; 10.63±8.90, median 9.00) than in the pre-RTC group (n=894; 9.44±8.20, median 8.00; p<0.001). The mean transportation distance (9.84±13.71, median 5.80 vs. 13.12±16.15 km, median 6.00; p<0.001) was longer in the post-RTC group than in the pre-RTC group. Furthermore, proportionally fewer patients were transported from an area in the same city as the RTC after establishment (86.1% vs. 78.3%; p<0.001). Yearly comparisons revealed a gradually increasing trend in the hospital death rate (ptrend=0.031). Conclusions: After establishing a level 1 RTC, the EMS transportation of severe trauma patients increased gradually along with the long-distance transportation of minor trauma patients. Therefore, improved prehospital EMS trauma severity assessments and level 1 RTC involvement in patient classification in the prehospital phase are necessary.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.49-53
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• 2018

In the recent years, an attempts have been made to convergence medical technology and IT technology to overcome the limitations of temporal, spatial in the medical technology applications. Emergency care is primarily intended to provide primary care and stabilization to the patient, thereby saving the patient's life and minimizing the risk until hospital care. In this study, we developed an application S/W to support emergency services for emergency medical services. Paramedics can easily keep a log of emergency activities and monitor the patient's condition in real time with this application S/W on smart devices. In particular, medical signals and information emergency status of emergency patients can be measured or photographs of affected areas can be taken. In addition, this report can be delivered to remote medical doctors for rapid emergency measures and immediate hospital response.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.7-17
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the factors that contribute to head injuries among drivers of personal mobility devices and provide insights into safety perceptions. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed data of 221 trauma patients obtained from electronic medical records and the National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS) over one year, from August 1, 2021, to July 31, 2022. The patients, all in their 20s and 30s, presented to a single emergency medical center following personal mobility device accidents (motorcycles, electric scooters, and bicycles). Results: Among motorcycle riders, 18.2% were not wearing helmets, while the percentage of e-scooter riders not wearing helmets was 87.5%. Wearing a helmet was associated with a 71.2% lower likelihood of head injuries (OR=0.288, CI=0.163 to 0.509, p=0.000). Of the personal mobility devices, motorcycles had a 0.431 times lower odds ratio for head injury compared to e-scooters (p=0.009), and there was no significant difference between e-scooters and bicycles (p=0.776). Conclusion: It is imperative to strengthen safety regulations by mandating helmet use for riders of personal mobility devices. A system to enhance driving enforcement for electric scooters, which are increasingly popular among young adults, should also be established.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.184-191
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to investigate the disaster preparedness and professional quality of life among nurses in emergency departments. The participants in this study were 56 nurses in emergency departments in two cities. The data were collected by questionnaires survey from January to August 2016. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS ver. 23.0 program. Participants' disaster preparedness was different according to position (t=-2.32, p=.004), type of working (t=-2.32, p=.004), and frequency of traumatic events (F=5.26, p=.009). There were significant differences by gender (t=2.88, p=.006), desire for continuous work in the emergency room (t=2.95, p=.005), and job satisfaction (F=10.81, p < .001) in compassion satisfaction. Burnout was different according to gender (t=-2.05, p=.045), choice of an emergency department (t=-2.37, p=.021), desire for continuous work in the emergency room (t=-2.31, p=.025), and job satisfaction (F=11.99, p < .001). Disaster preparedness and compassion satisfaction had positively significant correlations. Compassion satisfaction of nurses in emergency department was an important variable that should be considered to improve their disaster preparedness.

• 한국정보통신설비학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.08a
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• pp.381-385
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• 2007

As development of wireless communication technology has promoted mobility, Location Based Service (LBS) became embossed. The LBS is a service to recognize and utilize a location of a person or a thing through a device that ensures mobility based on wireless communication network. This paper thus researches on Healthcare Method to respond to emergency rapidly by recognizing a patient's location with the LBS. The LBS also provides location information of a user as well as remote management of organism data such as ECG data or pulse, which is transferred to a hospital or an emergency room.