• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.46-48
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• 2013

Potamotrygon motoro, also known as the Marble motoro, is a potamodromous freshwater ray native to the basins of the Amazon River. Marble motoros were introduced to South Korea in the 2000s, and, because they are easy to raise, were sold as aquarium fish. The aim of this report is to illustrate a new case involving envenomation by a Marble motoro. A 35-year-old commercial aquarium assistant came to the hospital after being pricked by a Marble motoro. The clinical picture in this case showed acute local pain with minimal systemic manifestations. This patient recovered after receiving symptomatic treatment and wound care. This case of envenomation accentuates the potential for injury among people coming in contact with a venomous Marble motoro.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.116-123
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• 2016

Purpose: To develop an inclusive and sustainable trauma system as the assessment of burden of injuries is very much important. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the estimates and characteristics of abdominal traumatic injuries. Methods: The data were extracted from the National Emergency Department Information System. Based on Korean Standard Classification for Disease 6th version, which is the Korean version of International Classification of Disease 10th revision, abdominal injuries were identified and abdominal surgeries were evaluated with electronic data interchange codes. Demographic factors, numbers of surgeries and clinical outcomes were also investigated. Results: From 2011 to 2014, about 24,696 patients with abdominal trauma were admitted to the hospitals annually in South Korea. The number of patients who were admitted to regional and local emergency medical centers was 8,622 (34.91%) and 15,564(63.02%), respectively. Based on National Emergency Department Information System, liver was identified as the most commonly injured abdominal solid organ (39.50%, 9,754/24,696, followed by spleen (17.57%, 4,338/24,696) and kidney (12.94%, 3,195/24,696). Conclusion: This study shows that the demand for abdominal trauma care is considerable in South Korea and most of the patients with abdominal trauma were admitted to regional or local emergency centers. The results of this study can be used as good source of information for staffs to ensure proper delivery of abdominal trauma care in trauma centers nationally.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.156-162
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• 2003

Due to almost all tracks of new Kyoungbu high-speed lines(HSL) consisting of bridges and tunnels, HSR operational safety management is very important factor for passenger safety and preventing catastrophic event. Especially, it is important to approach the scene of the accident and assist in saving lives as soon as possible under emergency conditions. Therefore it is essential to prepare access methods and available resources in advance in order to support emergency correspodances promptly and effectively. This paper persents an application of geographical information system(GIS) for developing emergency management system as well as batabase system on tracks and facilities, electric/communication equipment and safety equipment required to support emergencies. The on-site information on the proximity of HSL is expressed on the numerical map, which can be helpful to call external supports such as medical service, local authorities, police offices, fire brigades, and etc. for the emergency situations.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.71-73
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• 2007

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in widely used herbicides. It acts through inhibition of the shikimate metabolic pathway in plants. This pathway does not exist in mammals, however, so glyphosate is presumably less toxic to humans. Nevertheless, fatal cases of glyphosate poisoning in humans have still occurred. Cases of glyphosate poisoning reported in the previous literature were almost always caused by intentional ingestion. Therefore, intramuscular injection of glyphosate with suicidal intent has not been reported. We report a case of 43-year-old man with poisoning due to intramuscular injection of glyphosate herbicide. He was admitted to the emergency department with a chilling sensation, local hotness, swelling, and tenderness at the site of glyphosate injection. He was treated with intravenous antibiotics and analgesics for 10 days and was discharged without any other complication.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2022

In this study, we report the case of a 59-year-old male patient with organophosphate pesticide poisoning. He visited the local emergency medical center after ingesting 250 ml of organophosphate pesticide. The patient's symptoms improved after the initial intravenous infusion of pralidoxime 5 g and atropine 0.5 mg. However, 18 hours after admission, there was a worsening of the symptoms. A high dose of atropine was administered to improve muscarinic symptoms. A total dose of 5091.4 mg of atropine was used for 30 days, and fever and paralytic ileus appeared as side effects of atropine. Anticholinergic symptoms disappeared only after reducing the atropine dose, and the patient was discharged on the 35th day without any neurologic complications.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.115-118
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• 2007

Purpose: A eutectic mixture of local anesthetics (EMLA$^{(R)}$) cream has been used as a topical anesthetic to reduce the pain of procedures penetrating the skin. It is generally applied for 40 to 60 minutes before the painful procedure. Because of the long application period, EMLA$^{(R)}$ is not useful in the emergency department (ED). The purpose of this study was to determine whether a 20-minute application of 9.6% lidocaine would be useful in reducing the pain of routine peripheral intravenous cannulation in the ED. Methods: We examined 27 male and 19 female patients ages over 18 years of age who required intravenous cannula insertion. Intravenous insertion was performed on 46 patients: 24 patients in the placebo group (mean age: 40.0 years) and 22 in the 9.6% lidocaine group (mean age: 37.6 years). The 9.6% lidocaine or placebo gel was applied and covered with an occlusive dressing for 20 minutes. Pain was scored by the patients using a 0- to 10-cm visual analogue scale. Results: The patients in the 9.6% lidocaine group (mean pain score: 3.4) experienced less pain than those in the placebo group (mean: 5.3), and the difference was statistically significant (p=0.029). Conclusion: We concluded that a 20-minute application of 9.6% lidocaine is safe and effective for reducing pain associated with venipuncture.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.26-35
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• 2019

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify the predictive validity of the Korean Triage and Acuity Scale (KTAS). Methods: This methodological study used data from National Emergency Department Information System for 2016. The KTAS disposition and emergency treatment results for emergency patients aged 15 years and older were analyzed to evaluate its predictive validity through its sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value. Results: In case of death in the emergency department, or where the intensive care unit admission was considered an emergency, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the KTAS were 0.916, 0.581, 0.097, and 0.993, respectively. In case of death in the emergency department, or where the intensive or non-intensive care unit admission was considered an emergency, the sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 0.700, 0.642, 0.391, and 0.867, respectively. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the KTAS had high sensitivity but low specificity. It is necessary to constantly review and revise the KTAS level classification because it still results in a few errors of under and over-triage. Nevertheless, this study is meaningful in that it was an evaluation of the KTAS for the total cases of adult patients who sought help at regional and local emergency medical centers in 2016.

• 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.

• 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.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2018

In the event of a disaster, we need people who specialize in rapid regional disaster recovery. However, in the present disaster response system, disaster relief is carried out at the level of public support, volunteer service, etc. There are various problems such as initial response due to lack of expertise, delays in disaster recovery, and inadequate response to disasters. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a unit with early ability to respond to local governments in the event of a disaster and expertise to enable rapid disaster recovery. Therefore, this study limited the preparation of the reserve forces emergency response units for the direction of local security, disaster relief and disaster relief through emergency disaster recovery under the disaster situation.