Analysis of Current Phone Usage in the Seoul Emergency Medical Service Information Center.
- Author:
Hyoung Gon SONG
1
;
Young Ho KWAK
;
Gil Joon SUH
Author Information
1. Department of Emergency Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea. cprking@yahoo.co.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Emergency Medical Service;
Information Center
- MeSH:
Emergencies*;
Emergency Medical Services*;
First Aid;
Information Centers*;
Retrospective Studies;
Seoul*
- From:Journal of the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
2002;13(1):19-22
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
PURPOSE: For proper operation of the Seoul Emergency Medical Service Information Center, We analyzed the contents of the phone-calls made to the center. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed phone calls made to the center from Jul. 1 to Sep. 30, 2001. RESULTS: The total number of phone calls made to the center during the above-mentioned period was 42,143, and the average number of calls was 458.1+/-32.3 per day. Most calls came between 09:00 and 12:00 (85 calls, 18.6%), and hours with the fewest calls were from 03:00 to 06:00 (18 calls, 3.9%). The average length of the calls was 2 minutes 38 seconds. Most callers(25,454 calls, 60.4%) asked questions about a disease or first aid which were considered as non-urgent, and 9,586 (22.7%) asked for simple advice about a hospital or a clinic and also considered as non-urgent. There were 885 (2.1%) calls that were considered as emergent situations and there were 1,686 cases (6.7%) connected to the Rescue system 1-1-9 for the rapid evacuation. CONCLUSION: The results show that the Seoul Emergency Medical Information Center does not perform the proper functions that it should in emergent situations.
