Even with Severe Trauma, Immediate Surgery Not Possible? ... Hospital Transfer Time Increased by 6 Minutes in 4 Years

Ambulance [Image source=Yonhap News]

The time it takes to transport critically injured trauma patients, who are on the brink of life and death, to the hospital has increased by 6 minutes over the past four years. This indicates a growing possibility of failing to meet the crucial "golden time" for severe trauma patients due to a shortage of emergency room beds and other factors.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency released statistics on severe trauma cases from 2015 to 2020 on the 30th. According to the data, the nationwide transport time for severe trauma patients was 26 minutes in 2016 but increased to 32 minutes in 2020. Although severe trauma patients should be quickly transported by ambulance immediately after an accident to receive hospital treatment and surgery, many cases have experienced delays due to "emergency room cycling." There is also significant regional variation. As of 2020, Gwangju had the fastest transport time for severe patients at 23 minutes. However, the slowest regions, Sejong and Gyeongbuk, had a transport time of 39 minutes, showing a difference of as much as 16 minutes.

On the 21st, the government announced the 4th Basic Emergency Medical Plan, aiming to resolve overcrowding in emergency medical institutions by categorizing the emergency medical system according to the severity of patients' injuries (moderate, moderate-severe, mild). They also proposed measures to minimize gaps in medical staff handling severe emergency diseases through a rotating duty system based on day-of-week designated hospitals.

From 2015 to 2020, the total number of severe trauma patients was 48,953. The number steadily increased from 6,250 in 2015 to 9,115 in 2019 but slightly decreased to 8,435 in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of 2020, transportation accidents accounted for 53.5% of severe trauma causes, followed by falls and slips at 38.8%. Nine out of ten patients visited the emergency room due to these two types of accidents, with the accident locations mainly being roads and residential facilities.

The proportion of male severe trauma patients was over 70%, more than twice that of females each year. In 2020, 6,190 males (73.4%) and 2,245 females (26.6%) were reported. Typically, patients in their 50s make up about 20% of all severe trauma cases, the largest group, while patients aged 0-9 years account for about 1%, the smallest group.

More than 4,000 patients die annually from severe trauma. As of 2020, 54.5% (4,596 patients) of severe trauma patients died. Among survivors, 62.8% experienced disabilities, and 25.4% suffered from severe disabilities.

The fatality rate, disability rate, and severe disability rate due to severe trauma showed a decreasing trend from 2015 to 2019 but have slightly increased since 2020. In 2020, the fatality rate, disability rate, and severe disability rate rose from 52.2%, 61.2%, and 24.1% in 2019 to 54.5%, 62.8%, and 25.4%, respectively.

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