National Follow-up Survey of Preventable Trauma Death Rate in Korea.

BACKGROUND: The preventable trauma death rate survey is a basic tool for the quality management of trauma treatment because it is a method that can intuitively evaluate the level of national trauma treatment. We conducted this study as a national biennial follow-up survey project and report the results of the review of the 2019 trauma death data in Korea. METHODS: From January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019, of a total of 8,482 trauma deaths throughout the country, 1,692 were sampled from 279 emergency medical institutions in Korea. All cases were evaluated for preventability of death and opportunities for improvement using a multidisciplinary panel review approach. RESULTS: The preventable trauma death rate was estimated to be 15.7%. Of these, 3.1% were judged definitive preventable deaths, and 12.7% were potentially preventable deaths. The odds ratio for preventable traumatic death was 2.56 times higher in transferred patients compared to that of patients who visited the final hospital directly. The group that died 1 hour after the accident had a statistically significantly higher probability of preventable death than that of the group that died within 1 hour after the accident. CONCLUSION: The preventable trauma death rate for trauma deaths in 2019 was 15.7%, which was 4.2%p lower than that in 2017. To improve the quality of trauma treatment, the transfer of severe trauma patients to trauma centers should be more focused.

National trauma system establishment based on implementation of regional trauma centers improves outcomes of trauma care: A follow-up observational study in South Korea.

Although South Korea is a high-income country, its trauma system is comparable to low- and middle-income countries with high preventable trauma death rates of more than 30%. Since 2012, South Korea has established a national trauma system based on the implementation of regional trauma centers and improvement of the transfer system; this study aimed to evaluate its effectiveness. We compared the national preventable trauma death rates, transfer patterns, and outcomes between 2015 and 2017. The review of preventable trauma deaths was conducted by multiple panels, and a severity-adjusted logistic regression model was created to identify factors influencing the preventable trauma death rate. We also compared the number of trauma patients transferred to emergency medical institutions and mortality in models adjusted with injury severity scores. The preventable trauma death rate decreased from 2015 to 2017 (30.5% vs. 19.9%, p < 0.001). In the severity-adjusted model, the preventable trauma death risk had a lower odds ratio (0.68, 95% confidence interval: 0.53-0.87, p = 0.002) in 2017 than in 2015. Regional trauma centers received 1.6 times more severe cases in 2017 (according to the International Classification of Diseases Injury Severity Score [ICISS]; 23.1% vs. 36.5%). In the extended ICISS model, the overall trauma mortality decreased significantly from 2.1% (1008/47 806) to 1.9% (1062/55 057) (p = 0.041). The establishment of the national trauma system was associated with significant improvements in the performance and outcomes of trauma care. This was mainly because of the implementation of regional trauma centers and because more severe patients were transferred to regional trauma centers. This study might be a good model for low- and middle-income countries, which lack a trauma system.

Characteristics of nano-sized (Pb, La)TiO3 powder synthesized at room temperature.

We synthesized nano-sized (Pb, La)TiO3 powder using a high energy mechano-chemical technique at room temperature. By the results, nano-sized (Pb, La)TiO3 powder with perovskite structure was successfully synthesized from an oxide mixture using a high energy mechano-chemical technique without any post-annealing. The mechanically-synthesized (Pb, La)TiO3 powder consisted of nanometer sized particles and had very high homogeneity. According to increase of milling time, source phases such as Pb oxides and TiO2 disappeared and the perovskite PLT phase was formed by chemical reaction and the release of OH group.

The synthesis and characterization of metal nanoparticles using a modified electrolysis method for conductive ink in ink-jet printing technology.

In the ink-jet patterning process, conductive ink composed of metal nanoparticles and solutions, is an important factor for improving properties of printed patterns and processes. In this study, metal (Cu) nanoparticles in conductive ink were synthesized using a modified electrolysis method that extracted to metal nanoparticles from bulk metal plates. The Cu nanoparticles were prepared with a narrow size distribution. The dispersion stability and oxidation properties in conductive inks were also studied. Cu nanoparticles were homogeneous and had a diameter of 15 approximately 20 nm. By addition of PVP, the dispersion and oxidation stability of the metal nanoparticles, which were not oxidized after 2 month, were improved.