Epidemiology of Taiwanese internationally aeromedical transported

• Main Authors: Yu-Ming Lin, 林昱銘
• Other Authors: 蔡行瀚
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/62288881117403453867

碩士 === 臺北醫學大學 === 傷害防治學研究所 === 96 === Background: There are more and more people going abroad in recent years in Taiwan. The number was approximately 480,000 people in 1980, 2,940,000 in 1990, 7,320,000 in 2000, and in 2007 the number has reached 8,960,000, has been over one third of our total population. Medical problems in the people who travel abroad are inevitable. There is no related study of the epidemiology. This is the first report to discuss the epidemiology of Taiwanese internationally aeromedical transported. Method: All materials are taken from the document of International SOS in Taipei alarm center. The period of study is from October 2005 to September 2007. The data are analyzed by EXCEL software and SPSS software. Results: In two years, the epidemiology of Taiwanese internationally aeromedical transported had 390 voyage numbers (416 people). Excluding the foreigners transported from Taiwan and two-stage transporters, the people using the international aeromedical transported were 376 voyage numbers (379 people). There were 271 male patients (72%) and 108 female patients are 108 (18%). Most of the patients (295, 78%) were transported from China to Taiwan. There were 105 patients transported in autumn, which is the peak of four seasons. The age of patients revealed that the age between 46-60 y/o (159, 43%) was the largest population. Patients suffered from trauma were 164 people (43%) and non-trauma were 215 people (57%). Disease classification showed that neurology accounted 113 people (30%) is in first place. There were 33(9%) patients using ventilators. The model of transportation revealed 233 (61%) with stretchers and 146 (39%) with wheel-chairs. There were 51 patients (13%) transported with chartered air ambulance. Among all of these patients, 321 (85%) were covered with commercial insurance and 58 (15%) were private cases. Conclusion: This is the first study about the epidemiology of Taiwanese internationally aeromedical transported. Relevant researches are more and more important due to the increasing numbers of people going abroad in Taiwan. Information collection was very difficult in previous time due to the quality of medical service in foreign countries, the policy of medical insurance, and related laws and regulations. The quality of medical service in Taiwan is higher than other countries. However the price is relatively lower due to proceeding National Health Insurance Taiwan. Therefore, Taiwanese suffering from either disease or accident in foreign countries were willing to come back to Taiwan as soon as possible. Our study demonstrated that 80% of the Taiwanese travelers went to mainland China. The medical quality in most regions of China is lower than it is in Taiwan. In addition, the political issues cause the aeromedical transports more difficultly. For the purpose of injury prevention and control, we suggested that providing 24-hours telemedicine consultation may help the Taiwanese patients going abroad.