• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.42-56
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• 2003

Background : The purpose of this study is to investigate the influencing factors on the length of emergency department stay of patients with acute myocardial infraction. Methods : we reviewed medical records of all patients who were Hospitalized with acute myocardial infraction from March 1, 2002 to February 28, 2003. Results : The average length of stay in the emergency room of the subjects was 182.74 minutes. After the emergency room treatment, 48.1% of the subjects were transferred to intensive care unit. The hospitalization through emergency room mostly took place in the office hours. There were more patients on Monday. The influencing factors on the length of stay in the emergency room of patients with acute myocardial infraction were emergency room arrival time which was classified in seasons, treatment hours of specialized doctors, medical care insurance and required time of radiologic examination. Conclusion : In order to reduce the length of emergency room stay, it might be an available solution secure enough spaces, facility, and staff of the radiologic test only for the patients of the emergency room. And the effective use of emergency facility and space, establishment of standardized treatment guideline, and provision of emergency treatment support system are also needed.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.37-80
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• 2022

By analyzing informed consent and the refusal of emergency medical treatment (called patient dumping) under the current Emergency Medical Service Act, this study suggests that an emergency medical professional is only liable for patient dumping if their duty to protect the patient's life takes precedence over the patient's right to self-determination. In emergency medical situations, as in general medical situations, medical treatment should be performed after the emergency medical professional informs the patient about the medical treatment, including its necessity and methods, and obtains consent from the patient. Refusing or evading the performance of emergency medical services on the excuse of the informed consent not considering a waiver or alteration of informed consent requirements without reasonable reasons violates the Emergency Medical Service Act and thus makes an emergency medical professional liable to administrative disposition or criminal penalty. In other words, depending on the existence of a waiver of alteration of the informed consent, patient dumping may be established. If the patient is a minor or has no decision-making ability, and their legal representative makes a decision against the patient's medical interests, the opinion of the legal representative is not unconditionally respected. A minor also has the right to decide over their body, and the decisions of their legal representatives should be in the patient's best interests. If the patient refuses treatment, in principle, the obligation of life protection of emergency medical professionals is the top priority. However, making these decisions in the aforementioned situations in the emergency medical field is difficult because of the absence of explicit regulations regarding these exceptional problems. This study aims to organize the following precedents of the Supreme Court of Korea. The court states that, when balancing the conflicting interests between the duty to provide emergency medical service and the duty to inform is unavoidable for emergency medical professionals, they should put the duty to protect the patient's life ahead of the duty to inform if the patient's life matters. Exceptionally, when a patient has seriously considered whether they should receive treatment before the emergency medical situation, their right to self-determination can be considered equal to the obligation of emergency medical professionals to provide emergency medical treatment. This research also suggests that an amendment of the Emergency Medical Service Act should include the following. First, the criteria for determining the decision-making ability of emergency patients should consist of medical content. Second, additional consent from a medical professional is unnecessary for first-aid treatment. Finally, new provisions for emergency medical obligations for minors, new provisions for the decision standard when there are conflicting opinions about the treatment of a patient, and new penalty provisions for professionals who suspend emergency medical examinations and treatments need to be established.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 2014

Deep sedation is considered for the dental treatment of pediatric or disabled patients who have severe anxiety or involuntary movement. Deep sedation using sevoflurane inhalation in emergency dental practice, therefore, is also preferred for fast induction and recovery. This survey consists of 121 people with pediatric or disabled patients who underwent dental treatment under deep sedation using sevoflurane inhalation from January 2013 to October 2013. Patients who were scheduled for deep sedation were classified into a non-emergency sevoflurane sedation group, whereas patients who underwent emergency sedation due to trauma and patients with disabled characteristics itself were classified into an emergency sevoflurane sedation group. Of 121 patients studied, 95 patients received dental care under non-emergency sedation, 26 patients received dental care under emergency sevoflurane sedation. The two groups were analyzed according to: gender; age; primary reason for sedation; duration of sedation; treatment time; induction methods; treatment information; and departments. Non-emergency sevoflurane sedation in pediatric or disabled patients was safe and effective for controlling the behavior. Emergency sevoflurane sedation was a useful method for younger pediatric patients with traumatic injury who need simple, short time emergency treatment. Deep sedation using sevoflurane inhalation not only will reduce the use of general anesthesia gradually but also will be a useful method to emergency treatment for pediatric or disabled patients.

• Journal of the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.111-124
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• 2012

Emergency room process is very important in the whole hospital processes because it is first diagnosis for patient. Above all, triage is important activity which quickly diagnose the status of emergency patient and sets the priority for treatment. This paper analyzes the treatment process pattern by triage type. The results show that the treatment process after triage such as residence time, diagnosis and checkup type, and joint treatment are dependent on triage types. We can use these analysis results for improving the current triage system and developing the new triage system considering a domestic emergency medical service environment.

• The Korean Journal of Food & Health Convergence
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.11-17
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• 2022

Emergency transport is directly related to the life of the patient, and rapid transport to the hospital is crucial. However, external environmental factors such as traffic or weather, interfere with hospital transport. In this study, we investigated the external environment affecting hospital transport time. We examined the transfer time and patient treatment time of emergency patients in an area of northern Gyeonggi-do from 2018 to 2020. Diagnosis after arrival at the hospital was used, and on-site treatment time was measured from paramedic arrival time at the scene to departure. Furthermore, we examined whether there was a correlation between the time paramedics left the scene and hospital arrival time through the reason for the delay as recorded in the emergency log. Traffic jams had the greatest impact on patient transport, while transport delays occurred due to heavy rain, but not snow. Among injured patients, electrical accidents were the most problematic in terms of on-site treatment time. This was because a lot of first aid is needed in electrical accidents. It must be necessary to mobilize two ambulances in an emergency through the expansion of infrastructure, prepare a plan for rapid transport in heavy rain, and implement strong laws against transport obstruction.

• Annals of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.203-213
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• 2024

Backgrounds/Aims: The standard treatment for acute cholecystitis, biliary pancreatitis and intractable biliary colics ("hot gallbladder") is emergency laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). This paper aims to identify the prognostic factors and create statistical models to predict the outcomes of emergency LC for "hot gallbladder." Methods: A prospective observational cohort study was conducted on 466 patients having an emergency LC in 17 months. Primary endpoint was "suboptimal treatment," defined as the use of escape strategies due to the impossibility to complete the LC. Secondary endpoints were postoperative morbidity and length of postoperative stay. Results: About 10% of patients had a "suboptimal treatment" predicted by age and low albumin. Postop morbidity was 17.2%, predicted by age, admission day, and male sex. Postoperative length of stay was correlated to age, low albumin, and delayed surgery. Conclusions: Several predictive prognostic factors were found to be related to poor emergency LC outcomes. These can be useful in the decision-making process and to inform patients of risks and benefits of an emergency vs. delayed LC for hot gallbladder.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.38 no.7 s.374
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• pp.656-663
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• 2000

Recently dental emergency patients tend to increase and diversify because of increased living quality and acknowledgement of health care. We performed this study to understand the pattern of dental emergency and perform the adequate diagnosis and treatment. From August 1998 to July 1999, we inverstigated the rate of dental emergency, distribution according to disease pattern, monthly distribution, and types of emergency treatment from all the emergency patients that visited emergency medicine of Daejin Medical Center, Jesaeng Hospital. There were 266 dental patients(0.978%) from total 27,192 emergency patients. Types of emergency situations included lip lacerations, teeth fracture, teeth missing or avulsion, TMJ contusion, mandible fracture, tongue laceration, toothache, teeth luxation, and so forth. Dental emergency had highest frequency in July. The most common treatments included primary closure of soft tissue lacerations, fixations of luxated teeth and medications.

• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.93-102
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• 2014

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of patients attempting suicide and to analyze treatment determination factors for patients with mental illness who go to an emergency center for treatment. Methods: Data collected from 117 suicide attempters who visited Busan Regional Emergency Medical Center were analyzed using frequency, percentage, ${\chi}^2$-test with SPSS/WIN 15.0. Results: Only 31 cases consulted with the psychiatric department; the other attempters' refused to consult (26.5%). Among the 31 attempters who consulted, 23 cases (74.2%) were suffering from depression. The most common reason (38.6%) suicidal attempters gave to refuse psychiatric treatment was "I'm not mad. I don't need the psychiatric treatment". Treatment determination factors for mental illness were religion (p<.001), past history (p=.017), financial satisfaction (p=.048), previous history of suicidal attempts (p=.006), sleep disturbance (p<.001), expression of suicide (p=.010), and type of leaving the emergency room (p=.020, p<.001). Conclusion: Results suggest that people frequently misunderstand psychiatric treatment which leads to their refusal to accept psychiatric treatment. Therefore hospitals need to develop standard guidelines and procedures for suicidal attempters with the collaboration of emergency and psychiatry departments. In addition, medical teams need to provide attempters appropriate information and encourage them to actively seek psychiatric treatment.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.2117-2124
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• 2012

This is the study of actual condition and improvement on emergency medical treatment by 119 emergency medical service personnel. The subjects in this study were 299 emergency medical service personnel. Data were collected from May 1 to August 31 of 2010, and analyzed by SPSS 12.0 program. The major area of study of them were study of emergency medical services 41.5%, study of nursing 10.0%, fire fighting related studies 15.4%, health related studies 1.0%, and others 32.1%. The certificate of them were 1st class emergency medical technician(EMT) 38.1%, 2nd class EMT 33.8%, nurse 9.4%, first aid education 14.0%, and others 4.7%. Frequency of Prehospital emergency care, oxygen supply(274), splint apply(229), spinal immobilization(229), external bleeding control(223), medication(7), intravenous(4). Professionally trained EMT makes possible to secure high quality emergency medical treatment in the prehospital phase. Therefore, it is essential for the quality improvement of prehospital emergency care that well trained EMT ride on the ambulance together and take the responsibility for the treatment and transferring of emergency patients. In order to improve the proficiency of 119 emergency medical services personnel, it is also necessary to provide continuous job training programs for the prehospital emergency medical treatment.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.11-15
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• 2015

Background: Emergency room doctors run into difficulties in treating injured pediatric patients because usually they fell into panic after trauma. In these situation, deep sedation with sevoflurane is fully recommendable method. The conventional way can interrupt common dental treatment procedure. Methods: In the present study, nasal cannula was used for sevoflurane deep sedation in 11 dental emergency treatment. Age ranged from 0 to 3 years old (average of 1.8 years). Results: Treatment duration was from 10 to 35 minutes (average of 16.7 minutes). Average duration of sedation was 25.5 minutes ranging from 15 to 45 minutes. Conclusions: It has advantages to use nasal cannula for sevoflurane deep sedation rather than conventional intubation; saves time and secures good operation field.