• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.225-231
• /
• 2008

Objectives: Bioterrorism (BT) preparedness and response plans are particularly important among healthcare workers who will be among the first involved in the outbreak situations. This study was conducted to evaluate the current status of education for BT preparedness and response in health care-related colleges/junior colleges and to develop learning objectives for use in their regular curricula. Methods: We surveyed all medical colleges/schools, colleges/junior colleges that train nurses, emergency medical technicians or clinical pathologists, and 10% (randomly selected) of them that train general hygienists in Korea. The survey was conducted via mail from March to July of 2007. We surveyed 35 experts to determine if there was a consensus of learning objectives among healthcare workers. Results: Only 31.3% of medical colleges/schools and 13.3% of nursing colleges/junior colleges had education programs that included BT preparedness and responses in their curricula. The most common reason given for the lack of BT educational programs was 'There is not much need for education regarding BT preparedness and response in Korea'. None of the colleges/junior colleges that train clinical pathologists, or general hygienists had an education program for BT response. After evaluating the expert opinions, we developed individual learning objectives designed specifically for educational institutions. Conclusions: There were only a few colleges/junior colleges that enforce the requirement to provide education for BT preparedness and response in curricula. It is necessary to raise the perception of BT preparedness and response to induce the schools to provide such programs.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.71-80
• /
• 2011

Purpose : This research was designed to provide basic data for advanced pre-hospital airway management by comparing the ease of intubation, the success rate and the time for intubation performed with Macintosh Laryngoscope, Gum Elastic Bougie and Pentax AirWay Scope on the floor and table. Methods : Intubation was performed 30 times in total, including 5 times for each of intubation using Macintosh Laryngoscope, Gum Elastic Bougie and Pentax Airway Scope on the table and floor, only on subjects who passed the practice test of the national exam for paramedics. Data were collected by measuring the ease of intubation, the success rate and the time for intubation, and then analyzed by descriptive analysis, paired t-test, ANOVA using SPSS 18.0. Results : 1. There was a significant difference in the ease of intubation according to intubation devices. 2. There was a significant difference in the ease of intubation according to table height for intubation. 3. There was a significant difference in the success rate according to intubation devices. 4. There was no significant difference in the success rate according to table height for intubation. 5. There was a significant difference in the intubation time according to intubation devices. 6. There was a partially significant difference in the intubation time according to table height for intubation. Conclusion : Sufficient training not only with Macintosh Laryngoscope but also with Gum Elastic Bougie and Pentax Airway Scope could improve the survival rate by intubation in patients with difficult airway.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.164-173
• /
• 2012

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the degree of burnout of 119 rescuers, to determine factors influencing their burnout, and to provide basic data for development of intervention programs to prevent the burnout. Methods: Subjects of this study were all 119 rescuers working at fire stations located in Busan and Gyeongnam. The data were collected from May 1, 2010 to June 30, 2010. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS/WIN 17.0. Results: When the difference in the degree of burnout by general characteristics was investigated, the means of burnout were significantly different depending on age, period of service, position, license, annual salary, desire to work continuously and types of working hours. Job stress, job satisfaction, social support, self efficacy and self esteem showed a statistically significant correlation with burnout. The degree of burnout became higher with more job stress and lower job satisfaction, social support, self efficacy and self esteem. As a significant factor affecting the degree of burnout of 119 rescuers, job stress showed 47.3% of explanatory power. The explanatory power of all of job stress, job satisfaction, self efficacy, types of working hours, annual salary and license was 62% and the power of job stress was the highest. Conclusion: From these results, job stress, job satisfaction and self-efficacy were found to be factors affecting the burnout of 119 rescuers. Therefore, intervention programs to reduce job stress and to improve job satisfaction, social support, self efficacy and self esteem should be developed to lower the degree of burnout of 119 rescuers. In addition, further researches to analyze works of 119 rescuers and legal and institutional strategies to improve their treatment are necessary and supplementary training in various practices by different circumstances based on standardized protocols should be conducted.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.15-25
• /
• 2018

Purpose: To compare the Appropriateness of abdominal CT to abdominal radiography as an imaging modality in terms of the diagnostic value, medical costs and decision making times for patients presented to the emergency department with nontraumatic abdominal pain. Methods: This study used the records of 530 cases presented to the emergency department(ED) with nontraumatic abdominal pain from February to March 2012. Imaging modalities were categorized into abdominal radiography and CT (radiography first or CT first) or radiography alone or CT alone. The diagnostic value, total medical costs and effect on decision making time of the each imaging modalities were compared. Especially, in retrospective review, to evaluate the predictability of the abdominal radiography, alit was assumed that all the 530 cases performed that exam as initial imaging. Results: Among 530 cases, 255 cases underwent abdominal radiography only, 28 cases underwent abdominal CT only and the remnant 247 cases underwent abdominal CT with plain abdominal radiography. The diagnostic value was higher in the cases with abdominal CT (268/275, 97.5%) than in the cases with plain abdominal radiography (19/255, 7.5%).The number of cases predicted by abdominal radiography only as initial imaging were 39/530 (7.4%). In cases where the patients performed the abdominal CT as the first imaging modality thereby omitting the abdominal radiography, the total diagnostic imaging fee was lower than in cases with plain abdominal radiography first followed by the abdominal CT (277,140 vs. 284,226(mean, Korean Won)). Although diagnostic value of the plain abdominal radiography as first imaging modality was lower than the abdominal CT, Decision making time, average duration of hospital stay was longer and the total medical costs was higher than abdominal CT. Conclusion: As an imaging modality in the ED for patients with acute nontraumatic abdominal pain, plain abdominal radiography is an avoidable procedure when viewed in terms of the diagnostic value and total medical costs and decision making times comparing with abdominal CT.

• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.107-116
• /
• 2009

Overcrowding in an Emergency Department (ED) of hospital is a common phenomenon. To improve the service quality and system performance of the ED, a task assignment rule for the Registered Nurses (RNs) is proposed in this paper. At each task assignment point, the rule prioritizes all treatment requests based on the urgency which is determined by the multiple attributes such as accomplishment time of treatment task, elapsed time of treatment request, total remain time to patient discharge, and number of remain treatments. The values of partial urgency with a single criterion are determined and then overall urgency is computed to find the most urgent one among current requests with the importance weights assigned to the criteria. Through computer simulation, the performance of the proposed rule is compared with current rule in terms of the length of stay and system throughput in a simplified ED system of the hospital M.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.7-16
• /
• 2023

Purpose: The objective of this study was to compare the outcome of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) between National Health Insurance(NHI) and Medical Aid(MA), before (2019) and during 2020 COVID-19 in Seoul. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study that used nationwide OHCA registry collected in 2019 and 2020. The participants were patients with medical etiology who lived in Seoul and were transferred by 119 ambulance in Seoul. It was classified into NHI and MA according to health insurance status. Main outcomes included survival rate and good neurological recovery. Results: A total of 2,888 patients (2,543 NHI and 345 MA) in 2019 and 2,949 patients (2,638 NHI and 311 MA) in 2020 were included. In 2020, the bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), was significantly lower in MA (25.7%) than in NHI (38.1%). Survival rate in the MA decreased from 11.6% in 2019 to 10.6% in 2020, while increased from 10.1% to 13.3% in NHI. The odds ratio of good neurological recovery were 0.47 (95%CI, 0.25-0.86) for the MA group compared with NHI during 2020 COVID-19. Conclusion: There were disparities in bystander CPR and good neurological recovery by health insurance status during COVID-19 pandemic. Public health interventions should strive to reduce disparity of MA group in OHCA.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
• /
• v.19 no.10
• /
• pp.185-195
• /
• 2014

In this paper, we designed a role-based emergency medical information security system REMISS added the security concept to the existing emergency medical information system. Also we suggested a REMISS protocol based on HL7 for using the emergency medical information and the security information. The procedure of security consists of user authentication phase and role/permission assign phase in the REMISS. The REMISS can supply proper security service since the REMISS assign proper permissions to each users of emergency medical information system and allow the user to access the permitted emergency medical information by using security information of the REMISS. There are some advantages that REMISS can adapt to the changing of the role of each user by dynamic exchanging the security information and assigning permissions to each user.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.90-97
• /
• 2015

Background: Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) can cause serious adverse effects. To reduce the occurrence of CIN related computed tomography (CT) in emergency patients, we assessed the respective roles of serum creatinine (SCr) alone and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) as an early predictor for CIN related CT. Methods: For patients with SCr <1.5 mg/dL who underwent CT in emergency department (ED) between September 2012 and October 2013, we assessed the prevalence of CIN and its adverse effects. The Modification of Diet in Renal Disease Study (MDRD) and Cockcroft-Gault (CG) formula was used for the calculation of eGFR. Practical calculation was performed by electronic medical record (EMR) system for MDRD and internet calculating service for CG. And we investigated the prevalence of CIN in eGFR $<60mL/min/1.73m^2$ before CT. Results: A total of 1,555 patients were enrolled. The prevalence of CIN after CT was 4.6% and it showed correlation with renal deterioration, increased in-hospital mortality, and prolonged hospitalization. Despite baseline SCr <1.5 mg/dL, among enrolled patients, 11.3% as MDRD equation and 29.5% as CG formula were $<60mL/min/1.73m^2$ and in this condition, the prevalence of CIN was significantly high (odds ratio was 2.87 [1.64-5.02] as MDRD equation and 2.03 [1.26-3.29] as CG formula). Conclusion: Just SCr <1.5mg/dL was not appropriate to recognize preexisting renal insufficiency, but eGFR using MDRD equation was useful in predicting the risk of CIN related CT in ED. Using EMR, calculation of eGFR can be easier and more convenient.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.105-112
• /
• 2023

Purpose: This study aimed to understand the general characteristics and biomarkers of inflammation in adult patients who visited the emergency department with fever and to determine whether the severity of clinical symptoms varies according to cancer diagnosis. Methods: Data were collected retrospectively from 4,002 adult patients with fever who visited the emergency department at a tertiary hospital from January 2018 to December 2018 using medical records. Results: On average, cancer patients were older than non-cancer patients (p < .001), and differences were observed between cancer and non-cancer patients in the origin of fever and biomarkers associated with inflammation. A higher proportion of cancer patients than non-cancer patients had a Korean Triage and Acuity Scale level of 1 to 3 (p < .001), and more cancer patients than non-cancer patients met two or more criteria for systemic inflammatory response syndrome (p = .001). More life-saving interventions in the emergency department were required in cancer patients than in non-cancer patients (p < .001), and cancer patients spent more time in the emergency department than non-cancer patients (p < .001). Conclusion: This study showed that the general characteristics and biomarkers of inflammation differed among adult patients with fever depending on cancer diagnosis. Furthermore, among adult patients with fever, cancer patients had more severe clinical symptoms than non-cancer patients. The results of this study are hoped to be helpful as a basis of nursing knowledge for adult patients with fever in the emergency department and as evidence for the classification of severity in patients with fever according to cancer diagnosis.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.115-127
• /
• 2008

Purpose : This study aimed to examine the effects of empowerment of the paramedics on critical thinking and provide the basic materials for the qualitative improvement of emergency medical service. Methods : This study collected data with the paramedics working at general hospital and hospital emergency room in G metropolitan city, B metropolitan city, U metropolitan city, D metropolitan city and J province from July 1 to 31, 2008. Total 180 questionnaires were collected and 152 were used for final analysis, and the following results were obtained through statistical analysis using SPSS 12.0 program. Results : 1) Average score of empowerment was 4.44 out of 6 and according to average score by areas, significance was 4.94, capacity 4.92, self-determination 4.28, and effective-ness 3.62. 2) Empowerment by general characteristics was statistically significant in age (F = 3.313, p < 0.05), the final scholastic attainments(F = 2.436, p < 0.05), and salary(F = 1.695, p < 0.01). 3) Average score of critical thinking was 3.12 out of 7 and according to scores by areas, maturity was highest as 3.71, followed by no prejudice as 3.70, systemicity as 3.14, pursuit of truth as 3.05, much curiosity as 2.93, critical thinking and self-confidence as 2.92, and analysis as 2.91. 4) Critical thinking by general characteristics was statistically significant in marital status (F = 15.695, p < 0.01) and the final scholastic attainments (F = 2.606, p < 0.05). 5) Correlations between empowerment and critical thinking showed positive correlations as Pearson's correlation coefficient r = 0.400 and positive correlation in all areas including empowerment and critical thinking were found (r = 0.116-0.710). 6) The effect of empowerment on critical thinking was statistically significant in p < 0.01 and was explained as $R^2=0.155$. In the effects of empowerment on critical thinking, significance, capacity and self-determination were statistically significant in p < 0.01, effectiveness in p < 0.05 and were explained as R2 = 0.244. Conclusion : From the above results, it was found that empowerment had the influence on critical thinking, so it was considered that hospital managers and emergency room chiefs must develop and operate education and training program based on the concept of empowerment, maintenance and management strategies.