IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i3p1000-d1325468.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Promoting Emergency Medical Service Infrastructure Equality to Reduce Road Crash Fatalities

Author

Listed:
  • Soyoung Jung

    (School of Smart Safety System, Dongyang University, 2741 Pyeonghwaro, Dongducheon 11307, Gyeonggido, Republic of Korea)

  • Xiao Qin

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, NWQ 4414, P.O. Box 784, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA)

Abstract

Timely emergency medical service (EMS) is critical to mitigate outcomes of severe traffic crashes, especially in rural areas. The urban–rural inequality of the EMS infrastructure has been one of the factors contributing to a higher death rate for patients in rural road crashes. To address the spatial imbalance of EMS infrastructure, this study aimed to provide a methodological framework for evaluating the existing EMS infrastructure by taking South Korea’s EMS infrastructure expansion plans as the case study. Specifically, this study developed a road crash data-driven methodology to promote spatial balance and economical expansion of EMS infrastructure of all types, including EMS stations, hospitals, the helicopter fleet, and landing spots. Geographically weighted binary logit regression and spatial analysis identified strategic locations for prioritizing the EMS infrastructure expansion using crash victim data and road networks to close the gap between urban and rural areas. The analysis of access to existing EMS infrastructure showed that the 16 to 20 min EMS response time, including on-scene time and transport time ranging from 11 to 15 min, are significantly associated with higher crash fatalities. The results also suggested that EMS stations and heliports are inadequate to meet the EMS time thresholds in the central province of Korea. The findings of this research could inform policymakers as they are working toward expanding the EMS infrastructure and creating a more equitable EMS response when it comes to transporting rural road crash patients.

Suggested Citation

  • Soyoung Jung & Xiao Qin, 2024. "Promoting Emergency Medical Service Infrastructure Equality to Reduce Road Crash Fatalities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-20, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:3:p:1000-:d:1325468
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/3/1000/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/3/1000/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Haynes, Robin & Bentham, Graham & Lovett, Andrew & Gale, Susan, 1999. "Effects of distances to hospital and GP surgery on hospital inpatient episodes, controlling for needs and provision," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 425-433, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Masood Gheasi & Noriko Ishikawa & Karima Kourtit & Peter Nijkamp, 2019. "A meta-analysis of human health differences in urban and rural environments," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 167-186, December.
    2. Mohan, Gretta & Nolan, Anne & Lyons, Seán, 2019. "An investigation of the effect of accessibility to General Practitioner services on healthcare utilisation among older people," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 254-263.
    3. Henry J. Mayer & Michael R. Greenberg, 2005. "Using Integrated Geospatial Mapping and Conceptual Site Models to Guide Risk‐Based Environmental Clean‐Up Decisions," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(2), pages 429-446, April.
    4. Voicu, Bogdan & Fărcășanu, Dana & Mustață, Mirela & Deliu, Alexandra & Vișinescu, Iulia, 2023. "Using laws, common sense, and statistical approaches to design indicators for ‘medical desertification’. An application on the Romanian case," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    5. Hernandez, Diego & Rossel, Cecilia, 2015. "Inequality and access to social services in Latin America: space–time constraints of child health checkups and prenatal care in Montevideo," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 24-32.
    6. Elek, P. & Varadi, B. & Varga, M., 2014. "Effects of geographical accessibility on the use of outpatient care services: quasi-experimental evidence from administrative panel data," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 14/17, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    7. Mickael Bech & Jørgen Lauridsen, 2009. "Exploring spatial patterns in general practice expenditure," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 10(3), pages 243-254, July.
    8. Astell-Burt, Thomas & Flowerdew, Robin & Boyle, Paul J. & Dillon, John F., 2011. "Does geographic access to primary healthcare influence the detection of hepatitis C?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(9), pages 1472-1481, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:3:p:1000-:d:1325468. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.