PURPOSE: This study was conducted to shorten the time spent at each stage of treatment and to reduce the total amount of time patients spend in the emergency department (ED) by applying Six Sigma in the treatment of major trauma patients. METHODS: This is a comparative study encompassing 60 patients presenting to the ED of Bundang CHA Hospital from January 2008 to December 2008 and from July 2009 to March 2010. The stages of treatment for major trauma patients were divided into six categories (T1: total emergency department staying time, T2: duration of visit-radiologic evaluation time, T3: duration of visit-consult to department of admission, T4: duration of consultation-issue of hospital admissions time, T5: duration of visit-issue of hospital admissions time, T6: duration of issue of hospital admission-emergency department discharge time) and the total time patients spent in the ED was compared and analyzed for periods; before and after the application of Six Sigma. RESULTS: After the application of Six Sigma, the numerical values in four of the six categories were significantly reduced; T2, T3, T4, and T5. However, the average of the total time patients spent in the ED did not show any remarkable change because the T6 increased highly. The level of Six Sigma increased 0.17sigma. CONCLUSION: The application of Six Sigma for major trauma patients in the ED resulted in a significant improvement in the error rate for the total time patients spent in the ED. The Six Sigma activity has shown great potential. Therefore, the project is expected to bring better results in every stage of treatment if the levels of the hospital facilities are improved.
Emergencies ; Humans

PURPOSE: To minimize the process that acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients have to go through when visiting the emergency room (ER), and thus to provide prompt reperfusion therapy using the six sigma protocol, a business management renovation strategy to standardize the clinical process. METHODS: Analysis was done on data obtained both before and after implementation of the six sigma protocol. Data were collected from ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients who visited the ER between February 2006 and March 2009 and received reperfusion therapy. For statistical analysis used we used an unpaired t-test. RESULTS: After the six sigma protocol was put into practice, total visiting time was reduced from 124.4+/-76.1 minutes to 91.5+/-50.3 minutes, and the reduction was statistically significant (p<0.0045). Six sigma (6 sigma) means 3.4 PPM, that is, among 1 million cases no more than 3.4 cases should exceed the time limit of 90 minutes from the arrival of the patient to the needle puncture, making the task hard to achieve. sigma score was greatly elevated-from 1.48 sigma to 2.48 sigma and the sigma error rate (the proportion of cases that exceeded 90 min) improved from 62% to 45% . CONCLUSION: In this study we verified that applying the six Sigma protocol significantly reduced the time to reperfusion therapy for AMI patients. The reduction in time was due to changes in software (developed from the existing system) rather than to hardware improvements such as changes in test facilities or manpower amplification. The entire process, from a patient arriving at the ER until the patient received reperfusion therapy was viewed as one systemic flow and applying the six Sigma protocol to such flow was successful as shown by the result of this study. This shows that the six sigma protocol can be applied to a medical system if configured effectively. Further, this method can be useful not only for AMI patients, but also for many other urgent procedures such as acute cerebral infarction patients who require prompt diagnosis and hemolytic therapy, when the definition of the error rate is corrected according to the specific patients groups.
Cerebral Infarction ; Commerce ; Emergencies ; Humans ; Myocardial Infarction ; Needles ; Punctures ; Reperfusion ; Total Quality Management

PURPOSE: To minimize the process that acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients have to go through when visiting the emergency room (ER), and thus to provide prompt reperfusion therapy using the six sigma protocol, a business management renovation strategy to standardize the clinical process. METHODS: Analysis was done on data obtained both before and after implementation of the six sigma protocol. Data were collected from ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients who visited the ER between February 2006 and March 2009 and received reperfusion therapy. For statistical analysis used we used an unpaired t-test. RESULTS: After the six sigma protocol was put into practice, total visiting time was reduced from 124.4+/-76.1 minutes to 91.5+/-50.3 minutes, and the reduction was statistically significant (p<0.0045). Six sigma (6 sigma) means 3.4 PPM, that is, among 1 million cases no more than 3.4 cases should exceed the time limit of 90 minutes from the arrival of the patient to the needle puncture, making the task hard to achieve. sigma score was greatly elevated-from 1.48 sigma to 2.48 sigma and the sigma error rate (the proportion of cases that exceeded 90 min) improved from 62% to 45% . CONCLUSION: In this study we verified that applying the six Sigma protocol significantly reduced the time to reperfusion therapy for AMI patients. The reduction in time was due to changes in software (developed from the existing system) rather than to hardware improvements such as changes in test facilities or manpower amplification. The entire process, from a patient arriving at the ER until the patient received reperfusion therapy was viewed as one systemic flow and applying the six Sigma protocol to such flow was successful as shown by the result of this study. This shows that the six sigma protocol can be applied to a medical system if configured effectively. Further, this method can be useful not only for AMI patients, but also for many other urgent procedures such as acute cerebral infarction patients who require prompt diagnosis and hemolytic therapy, when the definition of the error rate is corrected according to the specific patients groups.
Cerebral Infarction ; Commerce ; Emergencies ; Humans ; Myocardial Infarction ; Needles ; Punctures ; Reperfusion ; Total Quality Management

Venomous snakes are estimated to inflict 400,000 bites annually, resulting in approximately 40,000 deaths. There are nearly 3,500 known species of snakes worldwide, and three species exist in Korea. Venom contains toxins that effect the cardiovascular system, the kidneys, the respiratory system and the muscles. There are many modalities in treating snake bites, but most of all, neutralization of the venom is the most important. however, many doctors in Korea hesitate in using antivenom. The reason is that there are no specific antivenoms against Korean venous snakes. In this case, a 2-year-old female child with a snake bite vistied our hospital Korea via a local clinic. Severe systemic symptoms and local symptoms, including compartment syndrome, were observed. When we tried antivenom, the result was satisfactory.
Agkistrodon* ; Antivenins ; Cardiovascular System ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Compartment Syndromes ; Female ; Humans ; Kidney ; Korea ; Muscles ; Respiratory System ; Snake Bites* ; Snakes* ; Venoms

PURPOSE: This retrospective study was performed to investigate epidemiological characteristics in terms of the ageand the sex-specific incidences in patients with perforated or nonperforated appendicitis. METHOD: The study population comprised 314 patients who underwent appendectomies for suspected acute appendicitis between March 2002 and August 2003. This study used the student t-test, the coefficient of correlation, and the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel Chi-square statistics. RESULTS: The incidence of nonperforated appendicitis was higher. Perforated appendicitis occurred at almost the same incidence in both sexes. However, the incidence of perforated appendicitis was high in small children and the elderly. The statistics of this study proved that the incidence of perforated appendicitis of the elderly was considerable. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that the elderly need careful examination and rapid evaluation. Also, we suggest that since perforated appendicitis has a long duration of treatment, diagnostic accuracy is needed.
Aged ; Appendectomy ; Appendicitis* ; Child ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Retrospective Studies