• Journal of Trauma and Injury
• /
• 제23권1호
• /
• pp.6-15
• /
• 2010

Purpose: Trauma is one of the leading causes of death, especially among young people. Life-threatening conditions are very common in multiple-traumatized patients due to concurrent multi-organ injuries. Treating such severely injured patients is time critical. However, in Korea, the transfer of severely injured patients is not uncommon due to the lack of a mature trauma care system. In developed countries, the preventable trauma death rate is very low, but the rate is still very high in Korea. This study's objective was to demonstrate the current serious state in which severely injured patients have to be transferred from a Regional Emergency Medical Center even though it actually serves as a trauma center. Methods: Ajou University Medical Center is a tertiary hospital that serves as a trauma center in Gyeonggido. The medical records at Ajou University Medical Center for a 1-year period from January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2008, were retrospectively reviewed. A severely injured patient was defined as a patient who showed more than 15 point on the ISS (injury severity score) scale. We investigated the clinical characteristics of such patients and the causes of transfer. Results: Out of 81,718 patients who visited the Regional Emergency Medical Center, 19,731 (24.1%) were injured patients. Among them, 108 severely-injured patients were transferred from one Regional Emergency Medical Center to other hospitals. The male-to-female ratio was about 3.5:1, and the mean ISS was 23.08. The most common mechanism of injury was traffic accidents (41.7%). A major cause of transfer was the shortage of intensive care units (44.4%); another was for emergent operation (27.8%). Most of the hospitals that received the severely-injured patients were secondary hospitals (86.1%). Conclusion: Although the Regional Emergency Medical Center played a role as a trauma center, actually, severely-injured patients had to be transferred to other hospitals for several reasons. Most reasons were related with the deficiencies in the trauma care system. If a mature trauma care system is well-organized, the numbers of transfer of severely injured patients will be reduced significantly.

• 한국응급구조학회지
• /
• 제16권3호
• /
• pp.103-115
• /
• 2012

Purpose : Inadequate chest compression during cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) may result in the insufficient blood flow to preserve critical organ function. The study evaluated changes of quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation over time in 30:2 CPR by laypersons and analyzed rescuer factors affecting the quality of chest compressions over time. Methods : This study was designed to know quality of CPR changes during 5 minutes. 47 students completed CPR training courses. They were performed 30:2 CPR using a manikin with Skill-Reporter for 5 minutes continuously to get data of depth, rate of chest compression, volume and correct rate of ventilation. Results : Time dependent analysis showed significant ineffective compression depth in females and under weight rescuers. In case of female, we found effective compression depth has maintained up to 2 minutes, but it decreased significantly after 2 minutes. However, underweight rescuers maintained effective compression depth up to a minute but it decreased after 1 minute. Conclusion : Although compression rate maintained over time, chest compression quality declined significantly. It suggested switching compression at an interval of 2 minutes is reasonable for 30:2 CPR by layperson but underweight rescuers may provide effective chest compression by switching shift every one minute.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
• /
• 제21권2호
• /
• pp.78-84
• /
• 2008

Purpose: Recently, the incidence of blast injury has been on the increase worldwide. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and analyze blast injuries in South Korea. Methods: This was a retrospective multi-center study of blast injuries in three tertiary military centers. The medical records of patients with blast injuries from January 2003 to December 2007 were reviewed. The injury severity was evaluated according to the Injury Severity Score (ISS), the Revised Trauma Score (RTS), and the Trauma Score and the Injury Severity Score (TRISS). Results: This study revealed epidemiological data of blast injury in the three tertiary military hospital. A total of 94 cases of blast injury had occurred. Various body regions were involved. The most frequently injured site was the upper extremity (52.1%). The mechanisms for the blast injuries were primary (41.5%), secondary (74.5%), tertiary (7.4%), and quaternary (29.8%). The mean injury-to-hospital arrival time was $3.2{\pm}1.7hour$. The rate of admission was 88.3%, and the rate of ICU admission was 32.5%. Thirty-six (36) cases required an emergency operation. Most were performed by an Orthopedist (55.6%), an Ophthalmologist (19.4%), or a general surgeon (13.9%). The mortality rate from blast injury was 4.3%. Conclusion: This was the first paper to present data on the type of injury, the site of injury, the cause of death, and the mortality from blast injury in South Korea. Chest injury, brain injury, tertiary injury mechanisms, $ISS{\geq_-}16$, and a Maximal Abbreviated Injury Scale Score $(ABI){\geq_-}4$ were significantly associated with death.

• 대한임상독성학회지
• /
• 제8권2호
• /
• pp.61-68
• /
• 2010

Purpose: Poisoning is a major health problem for the elderly, and poisoning can cause fatal side effects. However, the characteristics and clinical features of elderly patients with acute poisoning have not been well studied in the previous domestic research. So, we tried to analyze the clinical characteristics and toxic substances of the patients who were 65 years old or older and who were admitted to the regional emergency medical center due to acute poisoning. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records and poisoning protocols of the patients who were 65 years of age or older and who had with acute poisoning and who visited the ED in our emergency center from January 2005 to December 2009. We collected the demographic information, the gender, the underlying diseases, the causes and toxic substances, the initial presentation, the treatment and the outcomes. Results: A total of 2179 poisoned patients visited the hospital during 5 years, and among them 244 were 65 years of age or older (11.2%). The mean age was $75.6{\pm}6.9$ years and the male:female ratio was 1:1.7. The most common cause of poisoning was suicide (73.4%) and the most common source of poisonous substances was their own drugs. Of the substances used for poisoning, benzodiazepine was the most common drug (25.8%), followed by sedatives other than benzodiazepine (25.4%), insecticide (12.7%), chemical agents (12.3%) and herbicides (8.2%). The most common initial presentation was mental change (64.8%). When comparing the factors between the three elderly groups, there was no difference in gender, the cause, the substances and the underlying disease. The outcomes of treatment included ICU admission (56.1%), a good condition at discharge (12.7%) and admission to a general ward (12.7%). The overall mortality rate was 10.2% for the elderly patients. Conclusion: In this Korean study, unlike the foreign studies, the most common cause of poisoning in elderly patients was intentional poisoning. The admission rate was 68.8% and mortality rate was 10.2%.

• 한국응급구조학회지
• /
• 제25권3호
• /
• pp.81-92
• /
• 2021

Purpose: The aim of the study is to measure the quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the fatigue of rescuers wearing PPE (Level D) during a CPR session and to ultimately provide suggestions of safety standards for rescuers. Methods: 36 subjects were enrolled in the study. The subjects were divided randomly into three groups of two-members, three-members, and four-members. Each group performed CPR for 30 minutes. Blood lactate concentration, heart rate, rating of perceived exertion, chest compression depth and rate were measured before experiment and after each cycle. Results: There was a difference in the blood lactate concentration during CPR cycle by member of shifts (p=.014). The blood lactate concentration increased during CPR (p=.000). Subjective fatigue was a significant difference of chest compression in cycles 3, 4, and 5 for the member of shifts during CPR (p=.049, p=.009, p=.015). Depth and rate of chest compression were not different for the member of shifts during CPR. Conclusion: It is necessary to establish standards for the member of shifts during CPR, to reduce the fatigue of rescuers.

• 한국응급구조학회지
• /
• 제14권3호
• /
• pp.83-93
• /
• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine potential differences in pre-hospital cases of cardiac arrest and drug Intoxication between elderly group and non-elderly group on local emergency activity sites of rescue 119 team for those cases, so that it can provide useful reference materials for a system of corresponding emergency medical services. Methods: Patients with cardiac arrest and drug intoxication in the elderly and the non-elderly group were analyzed by analyzing the Ambulance Run Report for 3 years from January 2007 to December 2009. Results: According to analysis on potential differences between elderly and the non-elderly group, it was found that there was no significant difference between elderly cases (evacuated to hospital due to cardiac arrest and drug poisoning) and non-elderly cases in year of onset (p = .247), quarter of onset (p = .813), sex (p = .235), consciousness state (p = .126), place of onset (p = .215) and number of first aid services (applied to emergency cases) respectively, but there were significant differences between elderly cases and non-elderly cases in guardian availability (p = .042), time zone of onset (p = .050), distance from the site of onset (p = .278), type of onset (p = .000), number of first aid services depending on distance of evacuation (p = .008) and effectiveness of emergency care (p = .003) on statistical basis. Conclusion: It is important to establish a system of early emergency case reports for rational emergency case management with lower mortality; shorten distance from the site of onset at each time zone of onset in emergency cases; employ more emergency team members; facilitate firsthand / secondhand medical instructions for emergency teams in specialized emergency care depending on distance of evacuation for each kind of onset (elderly group vs. non-elderly group); and improve rate of resuscitated emergency cases by extending the scope of works for emergency medical technicians into wider applications, so that it will be possible to take timely and appropriate measures for emergency settings of ever-increasing aged population in near future.

• 간호행정학회지
• /
• 제15권1호
• /
• pp.64-71
• /
• 2009

Purpose: This study shows the prehospital emergency nursing practices, and analyzes them associated with their individual characteristics and job conditions. Method: Based on a survey of the National Emergency Medical Center in Korea(2008), principal components were extracted from 7 prehospital emergency nursing practices by factor analysis, and some regression analyses of principal components(CPR-AED and V/S-I.V.) were executed on individual characteristics and job conditions. Results: The PENs gave themselves higher order ratings for vital sign check, airway management for loss of consciousness patients, CPR for suspicious cardiac arrest, keeping vein open for shock patients, AED for abnormal pulse rate, AED for suspicious cardiac arrest, and AED for loss of consciousness. Age and duty periods were statistically significant influential factors on the CPR-AED component. Conclusion: The results indicate that the PENs were competent in overall prehospital emergency activities and procedures even some weak self-evaluations, and that the standard curriculum and practice standard for prehospital nursing should be developed in order to increase nursing leadership in prehospital emergency settings.

• 대한간호학회지
• /
• 제46권6호
• /
• pp.804-812
• /
• 2016

Purpose: This research was done to identify the hospital arrival rate and factors related to prehospital delay in arriving at an emergency medical center within the golden time after symptom onset in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods: Data used in the research was from the National Emergency Department Information System of the National Emergency Medical Center which reported that in 2014, 9,611 patients went to emergency medical centers for acute myocardial infarction. Prehospital time is the time from onset to arrival at an emergency medical center and is analyzed by subdividing arrival and delay based on golden time of 2 hour. Results: After onset of acute myocardial infarction, arrival rate to emergency medical centers within the golden time was 44.0%(4,233), and factors related to prehospital delay were gender, age, region of residence, symptoms, path to hospital visit, and method of transportation. Conclusion: Results of this study show that in 2014 more than half of AMI patients arrive at emergency medical centers after the golden time for proper treatment of AMI. In order to reduce prehospital delay, new policy that reflects factors influencing prehospital delay should be developed. Especially, public campaigns and education to provide information on AMI initial symptoms and to enhance utilizing EMS to get to the emergency medical center directly should be implemented for patients and/or caregivers.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
• /
• 제20권1호
• /
• pp.40-46
• /
• 2007

Purpose: The primary goal of wound management is to avoid infection. Wounds in all patients presenting to the Emergency Department are contaminated with bacteria. Despite this, there is a low incidence of infection. Unfortunately, physicians continue to use antimicrobial agents indiscriminately. The authors intended to determine the effect of selective antimicrobial agents and the indications for appropriate antimicrobial agent use in traumatic simple wounds. Methods: This prospective study was performed from Jul. 2005 to Aug. 2005. A pilot study had been performed from Nov. 2003 to Jul. 2004 at the Ewha Woman's University Mokdong Hospital. Structured data sheets were completed at the times of the patient's visits to the Emergency Department and to the Outpatient Department for follow-up. Infection was determined at the time of follow-up. The indications of antimicrobial agent use are immunocompromised patients, wounds contaminated for 3 hours or longer, devitalized tissue, and extremity wounds except hand wounds caused by sharp objects. Results: The study enrolled 216 injured patients. The general characteristics of patients and wounds between the two groups were not significantly different. The antimicrobial agent use and infection rate of the pilot study were 227 cases (90.4%) and 10 cases (4.0%), and those of this study were 100 cases (46.3%) and 9 cases (4.1%). In this study, antibiotic use was reduced to almost half compared with the previous study, but the infection rate was similar (p<0.001). Conclusion: Rational use of antimicrobial agents in simple wounds reduced the use of antimicrobial agents in the Emergency Department without increasing the infection rate.

• 한국응급구조학회지
• /
• 제21권2호
• /
• pp.89-102
• /
• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of subtraction meditation on perceived stress, self-efficacy, blood pressure, and pulse rate in paramedic students. Methods: A quasi-experimental study with non-equivalent comparison groups using pre and post-test design was performed. The experimental group consisted of 27 participants who attended the meditation program, and the control group consisted of 26 non-participants of the program. The data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 24.0. Results: There were a statistically significant differences between the experimental group and the control group in perceived stress(t=2.301, p=.026), systolic pressure(F=18.531, p=.000), diastolic pressure(F=9.745, p=.003), and pulse rate(F=33.869, p=.000) between pretest and posttest results. Conclusion: The subtraction meditation program can help reduce perceived stress, systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, and pulse rate.