Appropriateness of transport of children via emergency medical service providers according to the decision-maker on referred hospitals.
- Author:
Hohyun JEONG
1
;
Myeong Il CHA
;
Si Young JUNG
;
Joohyun SUH
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords: Ambulances; Child; Emergency Medical Services; Epidemiology; Hospitals; Transportation of Patients
- MeSH: Ambulances; Child*; Consciousness; Emergencies*; Emergency Medical Services*; Epidemiology; First Aid; Gyeonggi-do; Humans; Korea; Transportation of Patients; Triage
- From:Pediatric Emergency Medicine Journal 2017;4(2):85-91
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
- Abstract: PURPOSE: We aimed to investigate the appropriateness of transport of children via emergency medical service providers (EMSP) according to the decision-maker on referred hospitals (EMSP [EMSP group] vs. guardians [user group]). METHODS: We analyzed first aid records by EMSP for children aged 15 years or younger in Gyeonggi province, Korea, from January 2012 through December 2013. We obtained the following data: scene, symptom, type (high-level [regional/local emergency medical centers] or not) and location (out-of-province or not) of referred hospitals, injury, level of consciousness (alert or not), and prehospital triage results by EMSP (emergent/less emergent or not). RESULTS: A total of 50,407 children were included, of whom 37,626 (74.6%) belonged to the user group. Overall, the most common scene, symptom, and type and location of referred hospitals were home (57.0%), pain (33.3%), and inside-theprovince and local emergency medical centers (44.2%), respectively. The user group showed less frequent injury (P < 0.001), decreased level of consciousness (P < 0.001), and no significant difference in the triage results (P = 0.074). This group showed more frequent transport to high-level and out-of-province emergency medical centers (P < 0.001), and longer transport (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The user group showed more frequent transport to high-level or remote referred hospitals without more critical prehospital triage results. Guardian-directed transport of children might be associated with the inappropriate transport of children via EMSP.
