Actual Operation of Private Prehospital Emergency Medical Service Systems in Certain Regions of South Korea

This study aims to analyze the actual conditions of the managers and employees of private emergency medical service systems and to provide basic data for the activation of a private Emergency Medical Service System (EMSS). Structured questionnaires were distributed to the managers and employees of private emergency patient transport services. From August 1 to October 30, 2013, a survey was conducted face-to-face by personal visits and the collected data were processed using IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0. The average monthly income of the managers was 13.69 million won and net profit after operating expenses was 3.3 million won. Of total employees, 62.7% were in their twenties, while 68.7% earned an average of 1.5 million won or less a month and 31.3% more than 1.5 million won a month. This study found that the operational situation of the private transport services was very poor and that they were poorly managed; therefore, in order to achieve qualitative improvements in public health care, there is a need for private transport services to obtain financial assistance for Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and to have stable administration.