Kim Jiena, Choi Hyo Jeong, Kim Ho Jung
Department of Emergency Medicine, Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital, Gyeonggi-do, Korea.
Medicine (Baltimore). 2019 Sep;98(39):e17330. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000017330.
The aim of this study was to investigate the experiences of medical transportation of Korean travelers who suffered accidents abroad and then transferred home by our aeromedical team.We collected demographic and clinical data on patients injured while traveling abroad from January 2013 to July 2017. Descriptive analyses based on 4 different transportation methods and transport time since hospitalization were performed.A total of 33 patients were repatriated during the study period. Of these, 28 (84.8%) were trauma cases with pedestrian injuries being the most common (11 cases; 39.3%). Twenty patients were repatriated by flight-stretchers, 6 by flight-prestige, 2 by ship, and 5 by air ambulance. The air ambulance was the most expensive (average 61,124 US Dollars) mode of transportation (P = .001) and the ship took the longest time (14 hours) to transport patients back to Korea from regions with similar distance (P = .0023).We experienced medical repatriation of 33 seriously injured Korean travelers back to South Korea. Transfer time should be an important considering factor and directly contacting and communicating with the specialized staff of foreign hospitals could also be very important to reduce unnecessary overseas hospital stay and cost incidence.
本研究的目的是调查在国外遭遇事故后由我们的航空医疗团队转运回国的韩国旅客的医疗转运经历。我们收集了2013年1月至2017年7月期间在国外受伤患者的人口统计学和临床数据。基于4种不同的运输方式和住院后的运输时间进行了描述性分析。在研究期间，共有33名患者被遣返。其中，28例（84.8%）为创伤病例，行人受伤最为常见（11例；39.3%）。20名患者通过航空担架遣返，6名通过豪华航班遣返，2名通过轮船遣返，5名通过空中救护车遣返。空中救护车是最昂贵的运输方式（平均61,124美元）（P = 0.001），轮船从距离相似的地区将患者运回韩国所需时间最长（14小时）（P = 0.0023）。我们经历了33名重伤韩国旅客的医疗遣返回到韩国。转运时间应是一个重要的考虑因素，直接与国外医院的专业人员联系和沟通对于减少不必要的海外住院时间和费用发生也可能非常重要。
