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Utilization of Emergency Department by Children in Korea

This study was conducted to examine the nation-wide emergency department (ED) utilization pattern by children in Korea. Most referral hospital EDs provide their essential ED information to the National Emergency Medical Center through the National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS). We...

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Autores principales: Kwak, Young Ho, Kim, Do Kyun, Jang, Hye Young
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3468760/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23091321
http://dx.doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2012.27.10.1222
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author Kwak, Young Ho
Kim, Do Kyun
Jang, Hye Young
author_facet Kwak, Young Ho
Kim, Do Kyun
Jang, Hye Young
author_sort Kwak, Young Ho
collection PubMed
description This study was conducted to examine the nation-wide emergency department (ED) utilization pattern by children in Korea. Most referral hospital EDs provide their essential ED information to the National Emergency Medical Center through the National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS). We analyzed the NEDIS data on pediatric visits (< 19 yr old) during three years, from June 1, 2008 to May 31, 2010. A total of 2,072,664 children visited 124 EDs during the study period, and this patient population comprised 31.2% of the total ED visits. Male patients with a mean age of 5.44 (± 5.40 SD) yr comprised 59.1% of the ED pediatric visits. Among all age groups, the 1-4-yr-old group was the largest (42.3%). The most common mode of arrival was non-emergency medical service (EMS) (90.7%), and only 4.2% of patients used EMS transport. Common chief complaints in infants were fever (37.4%), whereas many older children presented to the EDs with abdominal pain (15.4%). The ratio of disease versus injury as the cause of ED visits was 2.5:1. Most patients were discharged (81.2%), and 15.3% were admitted. In conclusion, the most common age group who are brought to EDs in Korea is 1 to 4 yr-old young children, and common chief complaints of the visiting children are age-dependent, such as fever in younger children and abdominal pain and headache in older children. We need more improved and organized emergency medicine service system for children in Korea.
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spelling pubmed-34687602012-10-22 Utilization of Emergency Department by Children in Korea Kwak, Young Ho Kim, Do Kyun Jang, Hye Young J Korean Med Sci Original Article This study was conducted to examine the nation-wide emergency department (ED) utilization pattern by children in Korea. Most referral hospital EDs provide their essential ED information to the National Emergency Medical Center through the National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS). We analyzed the NEDIS data on pediatric visits (< 19 yr old) during three years, from June 1, 2008 to May 31, 2010. A total of 2,072,664 children visited 124 EDs during the study period, and this patient population comprised 31.2% of the total ED visits. Male patients with a mean age of 5.44 (± 5.40 SD) yr comprised 59.1% of the ED pediatric visits. Among all age groups, the 1-4-yr-old group was the largest (42.3%). The most common mode of arrival was non-emergency medical service (EMS) (90.7%), and only 4.2% of patients used EMS transport. Common chief complaints in infants were fever (37.4%), whereas many older children presented to the EDs with abdominal pain (15.4%). The ratio of disease versus injury as the cause of ED visits was 2.5:1. Most patients were discharged (81.2%), and 15.3% were admitted. In conclusion, the most common age group who are brought to EDs in Korea is 1 to 4 yr-old young children, and common chief complaints of the visiting children are age-dependent, such as fever in younger children and abdominal pain and headache in older children. We need more improved and organized emergency medicine service system for children in Korea. The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences 2012-10 2012-10-02 /pmc/articles/PMC3468760/ /pubmed/23091321 http://dx.doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2012.27.10.1222 Text en © 2012 The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Article
Kwak, Young Ho
Kim, Do Kyun
Jang, Hye Young
Utilization of Emergency Department by Children in Korea
title Utilization of Emergency Department by Children in Korea
title_full Utilization of Emergency Department by Children in Korea
title_fullStr Utilization of Emergency Department by Children in Korea
title_full_unstemmed Utilization of Emergency Department by Children in Korea
title_short Utilization of Emergency Department by Children in Korea
title_sort utilization of emergency department by children in korea
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3468760/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23091321
http://dx.doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2012.27.10.1222
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