Future agenda for emergency medical service in Korea: From silos to systems

Abstract

The primary role of the emergency medical services system in Korea is to provide quality urgent medical care. However, this system is regularly called on to perform additional roles such as responding to public health emergencies like the MERS-CoV outbreak and contributing to suicide prevention and chronic disease management. Despite substantial increases in the quantity and utilization of emergency medical services such as ambulances, the quality of the services has not improved significantly in the past decade. Overcrowding in Korea's emergency departments has threatened patient safety, particularly in large hospitals, with delayed care for patients and an increased risk of hospital-spread infections. To address these problems, the capacity of regional emergency medical centers must be augmented and an even distribution of quality achieved nationwide. The establishment of an organized delivery system for emergency medical services will improve pre-hospital transportation of patients and patient transfers between hospitals. Moreover, the introduction of an incentive system and the active involvement of emergency medical specialists in quality assessment programs are required to encourage providers to improve the quality of emergency medical services. Lastly, to meet the growing demands for emergency medical services, a system of integration between emergency medical care and general medical care should be instituted.