ABSTRACT
Objective@#To expand the scope of the work performed by emergency medical service (EMS) providers, a 3-day education training course was implemented at the national level to organize and operate a special EMS unit consisting of level-1 EMS providers and nurses. We conducted an evaluation of the curriculum for EMS providers that completed the education course. @*Methods@#From June 2019 to July 2020, a survey was conducted to evaluate the curriculum of 270 EMS providers that completed the training course in Gangwon province. We analyzed differences between educational needs, satisfaction with educational contents, and job performance confidence with respect to age, sex, certification, and career. @*Results@#We analyzed the contents of 143 questionnaires received from the EMS providers. Satisfaction with the “instructor” was highest at 4.52 points, and satisfaction with the “education” provided was lowest at 3.89 points. Those aged over 40 had the highest satisfaction scores for “education”, and a significant inverse relationship was found between age and satisfaction (P=0.020). In the overall curriculum, educational need was highest among those with a career duration of ≥ 3 years and those in their 30s. Regarding educational contents, the need for advanced cardiovascular resuscitation was greatest and the need for emergency delivery was lowest, but this difference was not significant. @*Conclusion@#When designing a curriculum for EMS providers in the future, segregation into similar groups is required to reflect their educational needs.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Abdominal pain is a common complaint seen at emergency centers. Various diseases can cause abdomin al pain making it difficult to make a correct diagnosis. In the elderly, however, the consequences of an incorrect or delayed diagnosis can be more critical. We investigated the accuracy of initial diagnoses in the emergency center and analyzed the associations among medical factors including age. METHODS: We compared the ICD 10 codes of initial diagnoses to the codes of final diagnoses, defined the 'degree of agreement' using a 5 point scale, and classified patients into 'high degree of agreement' or 'low degree of agreement' groups. According to the severity of illness, we classified patients as 'admission' or 'out patient follow up'. According to their illness, we classified them as 'surgical' or 'medical'. According to age, we classified them as 'elderly' or 'adult'. Finally, we analyzed the statistical significance of each association. RESULTS: Overall, admitted patients and surgical diagnoses had higher degrees of agreement. 'Elderly' patients had no significant difference in 'degree of agreement' from 'adult' patients. CONCLUSION: Among patients presenting with acute abdominal pain to the emergency center, the degree of agreement between initial diagnosis and final diagnosis is dependent on the diagnostic characteristics of the disease, and not on the age of the patients. Further studies on the diagnostic accuracy of individual diseases are needed. Additional diagnosis associated variables, for example comorbidity and prognosis, needs to be studied regarding relationship to diagnostic accuracy.