Appropriateness of Emergency Care Depicted in Korean Movies

Park, In Cheol; Choa, Min Hong; Kim, Seung Ho

Abstract

PURPOSE: As the lay public indirectly acquires medical knowledge through the mass media, it is desirable to show medically correct care in movies or TV dramas. We evaluated whether the emergency care depicted in Korean boxoffice movies is appropriate and medically sound.
METHODS
We selected Korean movies which more than 100,000 peoples had seen in Seoul from 1996 to 2001. We excluded fantasy or historical movies from the list. After searching the emergency situations in videos, including cardiopulmonary arrest, loss of consciousness, injuries, and medical emergencies, we evaluated whether the needed care was provided and properly done and whether the result was medically sound.
RESULTS
During the 6-year period, we found 46 emergency situations in 80 movies (0.6 per movie). Loss of consciousness was the most common emergency situation (34.8%), followed by cardiopulmonary arrest (15.7%). Emergency care was provided in 24 situations (52.2%), but was appropriate in only 8 among those 24 situations. Regardless of care, 50% improved and another 36.4% improved without any interventions. There was total of 106 necessary actions in the 46 situations: for instance, EMS system activation, airway maintenance, breathing and circulation support, spinal cord protection, and hemostasis. Only 21 among the 106 necessary actions (19.8%) were done. Hemostasis by external compression was the most common action done (44.4%), and airway maintenance was the least (3.6%).
CONCLUSION
We found that emergency care and its result were not properly depicted in Korean box-office movies. Emergency physicians and the medical community should pay attention to this problem and serve as medical advisors to guarantee a medically sound portrayal.