"Optimal Treatment Within Golden Time"... Government to Prepare Patient 'Transfer Guide'

Establishing Patient-Centered Emergency Medical System Improvement Directions
Targeting 60% Arrival Rate Within Golden Time in 2022

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] The government is significantly improving the emergency medical system to transport emergency patients to hospitals within the golden time. By establishing a preemptive 'transportation map' to prevent patients from being transferred between hospitals, it plans to raise the arrival rate of severe emergency patients at the final treatment institution within the appropriate time to 60% by 2022.

On the 17th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the National Fire Agency, and the emergency medical community held the 1st Central Emergency Medical Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) and finalized the 'Improvement Direction of Emergency Medical System for Patient-Centered Emergency Medical Service Provision' based on these contents.

The main tasks are ▲ safe transport to the optimal hospital within the golden time ▲ timely treatment provision for severe emergency patients ▲ establishment of a trusted emergency medical service foundation for the public.

The government will first enhance the accessibility and professionalism of the 119 emergency consultation service. It will improve consultation manuals for major emergency symptoms and strengthen professional personnel so that doctors work an average of more than 17 patients per day at the 119 situation room by 2022.

To quickly transport severe emergency patients to hospitals capable of treatment, a 'emergency patient classification standard' usable by both 119 paramedics and emergency rooms will be prepared. By next year, transportation maps for emergency patients will be established regionally in preparation for the occurrence of three major severe emergency diseases: severe trauma, myocardial infarction, and stroke. This means setting guidelines in advance on which hospital to go to when a specific patient occurs.

Management of the so-called 'bypass' will also begin to prevent hospitals from arbitrarily refusing to transport reported patients. Currently, medical institutions sometimes notify the 119 situation room in advance that additional patient treatment is impossible due to reasons such as lack of hospital beds, called 'acceptance difficulty notification.' The government plans to establish objective standards related to this and manage the total volume.

The government will also clearly define the functions and responsibilities of emergency medical institutions by type so that severe emergency patients can receive the best treatment in a timely manner. Regional and local emergency medical centers will be legally mandated to handle severe emergency diseases, while local emergency medical institutions will focus on mild and non-emergency patients, providing initial treatment necessary for severe emergency patients and prompt transfer.

To regulate mild patients from entering higher-level hospital emergency rooms and encourage quick discharge, disadvantages such as not applying health insurance will be imposed if mild patients receive outpatient or inpatient treatment immediately after using the emergency room at the same hospital.

To eliminate regional disparities in emergency medical services, 70 intermediate medical service areas will be classified based on population, transport distance, and medical utilization rate, and at least one local emergency medical center will be operated in each area. Additionally, plans to operate at least one emergency room per city, county, and district to ensure basic emergency medical services are available everywhere will be promoted.

The government plans to form and operate a consultative body to implement these improvement measures and monitor progress. Park Neung-hoo, Minister of Health and Welfare, said, "This improvement direction of the emergency medical system is more meaningful as it is the result of joint efforts by the government and the private sector to protect the lives and health of the people," and added, "We will do our best to establish a patient-centered, regionally complete emergency medical system."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.