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Review
. 2023 Feb;104(2):61-70.
doi: 10.4174/astr.2023.104.2.61. Epub 2023 Jan 31.

Understanding Regional Trauma Centers and managing a trauma care system in South Korea: a systematic review

Jeehye Im  1 , Eun Won Seo  1 , Kyoungwon Jung  2 , Junsik Kwon  2
Affiliations
Review

Understanding Regional Trauma Centers and managing a trauma care system in South Korea: a systematic review

Jeehye Im et al. Ann Surg Treat Res. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

The Korean government initiated a plan to designate and establish Regional Trauma Centers to reduce the preventable trauma death rate to <20% so as to be on par with advanced countries by 2020. This initiative was undertaken because the reported preventable trauma death rate was close to 40% in South Korea from 1997 to 2009. This review aimed to provide an overview of these Regional Trauma Centers and discuss further development of the trauma care system to assess its performance. As of September 2021, 15 Regional Trauma Centers had been established through a metropolitan-based designation process. Each center has been equipped with Level-I facilities. These Regional Trauma Centers have had 2 positive effects; namely, an increase in the number of severely injured patients attending these centers and a decrease in the national preventable trauma death rate from 30.5% in 2015 to 19.9% in 2017. The establishment of Regional Trauma Centers can lead to improved performance, maximal efficiency, and reduction of preventable deaths in trauma patients. They can also play a key role in prehospital triage and transportation in the trauma care system.

Keywords: Delivery of health care; Injuries; Mortality; Republic of Korea; Trauma centers.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Designated Regional Trauma Centers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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