ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Despite continous efforts to improve the prehospital trauma care system in Korea, the preventable death rate has been reported to be high. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prehospital trauma care system in Seoul by analyzing 119 rescue databases. METHODS: The 119 rescue data bases of 22,275 trauma patients, who were transported to the secondary and tertiary hospital in Seoul by Seoul 119 rescue services from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2000, were analyzed. RESULTS: The response time(mean 3.7 min.) showed no time, weekly, and regional variations. However, the transport time from field to hospital showed was high in the morning rush hour(7:00 to 10:00 am), and was gradually decreased and the lowest between 10:00 pm and 7:00 am. There was also a regional variation in the transport time, which was short in the central area and long in the peripheral area of Seoul. Prehospital cares were given to the 10,999 trauma patients(49.4%). Of the 464 unresponsive patients(2%), only 236 patients were identified in transported hospitals. The outcomes of these unresponsive patients were DOA(54%), survival(19%), death in ER(14%), transfer to other hospitals(8%), and death after admission(5%) in order. CONCLUSION: We suggest that this study may be helpful to the establishment and improvement of the prehospital trauma care system as well as the determination of the adequate numbers and locations of trauma center in Seoul.