• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.255-262
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• 2005

Purpose: In Ulleung island, emergency medical transport by helicopter is very important. So, we analysized our experience with emergency medical transport by helicopter for 4 years and we were compared our data with other data for 1997-2001. Therefore we need to research public health development direction. Method: We analysized patient's medical record for 4 years. Result: During 4 years, 104 transports were done and 130 patients were trasported to tertiary hospital center, there was more increased than that from 1997 to 2001. Helicopters from Pohang coast guard, Donghae coast guard, Navy, and 119 rescue etc. were used, but 119 rescue transport was decreased more and more. The 60's patients was most, 22.3% and teenager's and 80's patients was lowest. The male was 65% but the female was increased more and more annually. In addition, the older patients was the more portion of female patient. The transport was concentrated in daytime. The traumatic patient was much in winter period. The cerebrovascular accident was 1st cause of patient and fracture was many also. Conclusioon: Except Fire service's helicopter, the other helicopter was not apt to emergency medical tansport. But Fire service's helicopter was not used commonly because Fire service's helicopter was in Daegu, so distant and time consumed. As a result, emergency medical transport helicopter is needed in east coast like Fire service's helicopter. In addition, trauma prevention education and public health education for hypertension and diabetes will be essential and public health system in Ulleung island will be prepared for aging society.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.99-109
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• 2014

Airline and medical industry in Korea have rapidly grown since 21st century. However, air ambulance service using an aircraft has not as popular as in Japan, Europe or United States. Central government has decided to start emergency helicopter service since 2011 to transport emergency patients transported in the past by fire fighter helicopter. Unfortunately, 32 OECD countries out of 33 have operated emergency aircraft system except Korea. There are more than 25 emergency helicopters in Japan, which can operate within five minutes. Such system could save a lot of social direct or in-direct cost by saving valuable lives of Japan citizens. This paper has tried to research the perception of overseas Russian medical tourists on using Air ambulance for their medical tourism to Korea. Researching air ambulance, this paper expects to find ways to enhance both medical tourism industry and airline, business jet industry. According to research results, it was proven that tangibility of medical tourism service has a positive effect on the human factor of air ambulance. The human factor has also a significant impact on the passenger comfortableness of air ambulance. Such comfortableness increases the overall satisfaction of medical tourism.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.55-64
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• 2002

This analysis is accomplished by using 331 rescue and medical evacuation cases performed by KangWonDo Fire Service Department Aviation(KFSA-119 Heicopters) between Jan. 1998 and Oct. 2002. By analysing injury causes, annual differences, sexual, scenic(locaional) distribution and wounded part distribution, this study tried to figure out the general tendency of the helicopter-transported patients in Korea. The results are as follows; 1. The whole population of the patients rescued and transported by helicopters is increasing by the annual rate of 150%~200%. 2. For the locational (scenic) distribution of the patients, 57% (190 cases) of the target population were injured on their mountain-climbing or tracking. 3. 12% (41 cases) of the target population were the Inter-Hospital transport cases. 4. 6% (16 cases) were the expired cases. 5. for the wounded part distribution, 46% (106 cases) were muscular skeletal injuries. 6. The aircraft and personnel of the KFSA were rescue-oriented, so for the EMS operations especially inter-hospital transport missions, different medical equipments and personnels are needed.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.159-163
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• 2006

Purpose: The number of patients transported by the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) has increased recently. In our review of the Korean HEMS, there was no established helicopter utilization criteria or triage tool on the scene, so many patients with minor injuries were transported to tertiary care centers. The aim of this study is to evaluate the percentage of patients with minor injuries and to propose a more appropriate triage tool for predicting the need for transport to a tertiary care center. Methods: The subjects of this study were 59 trauma patients transported to Asan Medical Center (AMC) from the scene by Seoul HEMS from January 2004 to December 2005. The Triage score (TS), Injury Severity Score (ISS), and modified Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (mCTAS) were calculated as severity scales. Patients with minor injuries were defined as those with TS=9, ISS${\leq}15$, and mCTAS${\geq}3$. We evaluated the association of TS, ISS, and mCTAS with the appropriateness of transport. Results: Many of the patients transported to tertiary medical centers were classified as having a minor injury: TS=9 group 35 cases (72.9%), ISS${\leq}15$ group 30 cases (62.5%) and mCTAS${\geq}3$ group 27 cases (56.2%). However, 56.2% (27/59) of the patients were appropriately transported according to need for admission or an operation. The more severely injured patients classified by TS, ISS, and mCTAS were more appropriately transported to a tertiary center (p<0.05). Conclusion: Many patients with minor injuries were transported to a tertiary center from the scene directly. The TS can be easily calculated by an emergency medical technician at the scene. Thus, we propose the TS as a useful triage tool for determining the necessity of transport to a tertiary center by helicopter.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.122-129
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• 2020

Korea's HEMS are mainly operated during the week, but they are pushing for 24-hour operations. This study has made an overall comparison and review of helicopter safety management that should be accompanied to this end. For research purposes, helicopter regulations and helicopter accident statistics were analyzed, with a high accident rate associated with pilot error and night flight. It was proposed that future preparations would require reinforcement of laws and regulations, reinforcement of pilots' night training, and introduction of training and preflight risk assessments. This study will provide a direction for future helicopter safety. This study will provide for future direction of helicopter safety research.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.665-671
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• 2019

The estimated on-site accident rate in Forestry is relatively high. According to statistics of the accident, in the recent 5 years, from 2014 to 2018, forestry accidents have resulted in 98% of injuries and 87% of fatalities. Especially, there are significant geographical constraints to access to the scene in case of an accident. Even though the capacity of first aid capacity is notably emphasized its importance to minimize the scale of damages, the relevant employees have been educated only basic first aid, which is not considered circumstances or geographic limitations, by Occupation Safety and Health Acts. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to derive a direction for a forest emergency service system to increase forestry workers' survival and prevent secondary injury through securing 'Golden Time.' This study conducts analyzing relevant laws and regulations in domestic and international settings as well as looking at several concerned accident cases. The outcome of analysis presents an issue regarding the implementation of onsite first aid in forestry and existing risk factors depending on the working process. Finally, we suggest two ways to improve the forest emergency service that are 1) an appropriate curriculum and kit for forest first aid; and 2) a system for emergency transfer through sharing information between National Fire Agency (NFA) and emergency medical service center, and emergency and rescue mission using helicopter from NFA and Korea Forest Service.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.34-40
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• 2014

Since the global economic crisis in year 2008, the world civil helicopter market has been growing recently. According to the market outlook in the next decade, the demand of civil helicopter will be driven by the demand of Private & Corporate, Oil & Gas, Off-shore and EMS(Emergency Medical Service) usages. On the other side, the demand of military market will be driven by the modification and upgrading for life extension or performance enhancement than the new helicopter development for replacing old models. To summarize these situations, the demand of MRO(Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul) market has also been on the rise because of the demand due to above several usages in civil side and the life-extension in military side. Through the MRO market analysis for characteristics, developmental trends and a supply chain, this paper describes that the potential of MRO business is considerably large as a propulsive power of domestic helicopter industry. And also, it proposes the construction direction of MRO network because the domestic industry must make the developmental awareness and reliability a stepping-stone towards own helicopter.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.411-422
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• 2018

Background: Whether there is a difference in outcomes for trauma patients transferring to the helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) according to their previous team composition is controversial. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of trauma team-staffed-HEMS (TTS-HEMS) when transferring to a trauma center. Methods: A retrospective comparison was conducted on patients transported to a trauma center over a 6-year period by the TTS-HEMS and paramedic-staffed-HEMS (119-HEMS). Inclusion criteria were blunt trauma with age ${\geq}15years$. Patient outcomes were compared with the Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) (30-day mortality) and the Cox proportional hazard ratio of mortality (in hospital). Results: There were 321 patients of TTS-HEMS and 92 patients of 119-HEMS. The TTS-HEMS group had a higher Injury Severity Score and longer transport time but a significantly shorter time to emergency surgery. The prehospital data showed that the trauma team performed more aggressive interventions during transport. An additional 7.6 lives were saved per 100 TTS-HEMS deployments. However, the TRISS results in the 119-HEMS group were not significant. In addition, after adjusting for confounders, the hazard ratio of mortality in the 119-HEMS group was 2.83 times higher than that in the TTS-HEMS group. Conclusion: HEMS was likely to improve the survival rate of injured patients when physicians were involved in TTS-HEMS. Survival benefits in the TTS-HEMS group appeared to be related to the fact that the trauma team performed both more aggressive prehospital resuscitation and clinical decision making during transportation.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.109-115
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• 2022

During emergencies, the time from symptom onset to definitive treatment determines the final outcome. Therefore, the emergency medical service (EMS) system in Korea, aims to transfer patients requiring emergency care to appropriate medical facilities within 30 minutes. This is in an attempt to improve the chances of survival and reduce sequelae. We attempted to locate areas vulnerable to prehospital transportation and identify hot spots with high demand for emergency medical helicopters in Jeju, by using a grid-based geospatial analysis. This retrospective cross-sectional observational study employed EMS data of 119 ambulance run sheets spanning from January 1, 2010 to September 30, 2018 in Jeju. The location data of emergency patients was superimposed on the spatial analysis frame using the geographic information system (GIS). Subsequently, the locations of long-distance transfer and delayed transfers to the hospital were analyzed, to identify hot spots where the demand for helicopter emergency services would be high. Of the total analysis targets, 42.2% (20,288 people) took more than 30 minutes from reporting to 119 dispatchers to hospital transfer. As the transfer time interval increased, the patient occurrence time increased in the city of Jeju, increased in Seogwipo, and the ratio of patients/guardians to select a transfer hospital rose with significant differences. This study identified the characteristics related to time delays in prehospital transfer of emergency patients in Jeju, and the areas vulnerable to prehospital emergency care were derived and visualized through spatial analysis using the GIS.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.230-240
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• 2012

Purpose: We aimed to compare the transport time, the proportion of direct hospital visit and the emergency procedures between the current mountain rescue helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) and physician-staffed mountain-rescue HEMS. Methods: During weekends from October 2, to November 21, 2010, 9 emergency physicians participated as HEMS staff in the mountain-rescue HEMS program of the Seoul fire department. Patient demographic data, transport time, proportion of direct hospital visits, and emergency procedures were recorded. We also collected data on HEMS mountain-rescued patients from June 1, to September 1, 2010, and we compared them to those for the study patients. After an eight-week trial of the HEMS, we performed a delphi survey to determine the attitude of the physician staff, as well as the feasibility of using a physician staff. Results: Twenty-four(24) patients were rescued from mountains by physician-staffed HEMS during the study period, and 35 patients were rescued during the pre-study period. Patient demographic findings were not statistically different between the two groups, but the transport time and the emergency procedures were. During the study period, the time from call to take-off was $6.1{\pm}4.1min$ (vs. $12.1{\pm}8.9min$ during the pre-study period, p-value=0.001), and the time from call to arrival at the scene was $15.0{\pm}4.8min$ (vs. $22.3{\pm}8.1min$ during the pre-study period, p-value=0.0001). The proportions of direct hospital visit were not different between the two groups, but more aggressive emergency procedures were implemented in the study group. The delphi survey showed positive agreement on indications for HEMS, rapidity of transport and overall satisfaction. Conclusion: A pilot trial of physician-staffed HEMS for mountain rescue showed rapid response and more aggressive performance of emergency procedures with high satisfaction among the attending physicians.