J Korean Soc Emerg Med.  2002 Mar;13(1):19-22.

Analysis of Current Phone Usage in the Seoul Emergency Medical Service Information Center

• Song HG
• Kwak YH
• Suh GJ

Abstract

PURPOSE: For proper operation of the Seoul Emergency Medical Service Information Center, We analyzed the contents of the phone-calls made to the center.
METHODS
We retrospectively analyzed phone calls made to the center from Jul. 1 to Sep. 30, 2001.
RESULTS
The total number of phone calls made to the center during the above-mentioned period was 42,143, and the average number of calls was 458.1+/-32.3 per day. Most calls came between 09:00 and 12:00 (85 calls, 18.6%), and hours with the fewest calls were from 03:00 to 06:00 (18 calls, 3.9%). The average length of the calls was 2 minutes 38 seconds. Most callers(25,454 calls, 60.4%) asked questions about a disease or first aid which were considered as non-urgent, and 9,586 (22.7%) asked for simple advice about a hospital or a clinic and also considered as non-urgent. There were 885 (2.1%) calls that were considered as emergent situations and there were 1,686 cases (6.7%) connected to the Rescue system 1-1-9 for the rapid evacuation.
CONCLUSION
The results show that the Seoul Emergency Medical Information Center does not perform the proper functions that it should in emergent situations.

Keyword

Emergency Medical Service; Information Center

MeSH Terms

Emergencies*
Emergency Medical Services*
First Aid
Information Centers*
Retrospective Studies
Seoul*