Location problems for designing trauma care system in korea

Abstract

In this dissertation, we address one of Korean healthcare delivery problems: the establishment of a nationwide trauma care system. Until recently, Korea has had an insufficient number of trauma centers. Trauma refers to a bodily wound or shock caused by a sudden physical injury, such as that from violence or an accident. Because trauma is ranked as the third leading cause of death in Korea and the first among working-class populations, it is a serious public health concern in Korea. However, until 2011, Korea has had only one trauma center and it has constituted slightly more than a name. It is not surprising that the quality of trauma patient care is not as effective as that in countries where trauma care systems have been operational. For example, in 2011, the preventable death rate, which is an industry-standard metric used to evaluate the quality of trauma care, was significantly higher in Korea than in the U.S., Germany, or Israel. Since then, the Korean government has conducted feasibility studies for the establishment of a nationwide trauma care system. Our research into infrastructure-in particular, location-related problems in the design and implementation of trauma care systems-was included in this study. A brief description of our study follows.

In Chapter 2, we examine the unique problem of simultaneously locating and coordinating the cooperative functions of trauma centers and helicopters. Our objective for the study was to discover optimal locations of trauma centers and helicopters to maximize effectively serviced demands. Considering the fact that helicopters are not always free to dispatch, the availability of helicopter should be carefully considered. To assess a probability of helicopter`s being unavailable, it is common to estimate the busy fraction of a helicopter and insert it into a mathematical model. However, for the problem examined in our study, this method is inapplicable because the demands for a helicopter cannot be determined un...