Is there regional inequality in medical accessibility? Application of driving time data to measure trauma center accessibility in South Korea

• 발행기관: 한국재정학회(구 한국재정·공공경제학회)
• 저자명: 양현주(HYUNJOO YANG) 강민구(MINKOO KANG) 김민경(MIN GYUNG KIM) 고광혁(KANGHYOCK KOH)
• 간행물 정보: 『한국재정학회 학술대회 논문집』2018년도 추계학술대회 논문집, 1~29쪽, 전체 29쪽
• 주제분류: 경제경영 > 경제학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2018.10.30

영문 초록

An important aspect of successfully treating the severely injured, or trauma patients, is for them to reach a hospital within an hour (what is often called the “golden hour”). In this paper, we utilize novel driving time data for more than 3,400 townships in South Korea to investigate the disparity in access to trauma centers (TC) between metropolitan and non-metropolitan regions. We found large differences in TC accessibility by regions. In metropolitan cities, 99.8% of residents were within 60 minutes of a TC. However, in nonmetropolitan provinces, 21% of residents, or 6 million, could not reach TC within this time. In four non-metropolitan provinces, almost 50% of residents could not reach them within the golden hour. Taken together, the results suggest that, if broad coverage of TC service is a primary objective, government resources should be prioritized toward improving TC accessibility in non-metropolitan regions.

목차

I. Introduction

II. Background and Data

III. Results

IV. Conclusion

키워드

trauma vehicle transportation medical access golden hour