The National Fire Agency of Korea, led by Commissioner Kim Seung-ryong, and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, led by Commissioner Lim Seung-kwan, announced that they held the 9th Workshop on Improving Emergency Medical Service Quality for Sudden Cardiac Arrest on May 20 at EXCO in Daegu.

In 2024, Korea recorded 33,034 cases of sudden cardiac arrest, equivalent to 64.7 cases per 100,000 people. The survival rate reached 9.2 percent, while the rate of good neurological recovery stood at 6.3 percent, marking the highest levels since the survey began. In particular, when cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed by bystanders, the survival rate rose to 14.4 percent, 2.4 times higher than cases without bystander CPR.

These figures once again highlighted the importance of fast and accurate early response from the moment an emergency call is received.

The workshop was organized to discuss ways to improve emergency medical service quality at every stage of pre-hospital response, from emergency call receipt at the dispatch center to on-scene treatment and hospital transfer. It also served as a platform to share the latest technology-based response systems and quality management strategies.

Approximately 70 officials in charge of emergency medical service quality and emergency dispatch management from regional fire headquarters across the country attended the workshop.

Presentations and discussions covered key topics, including the current status of sudden cardiac arrest cases, major 2024 indicators for ambulance responses to cardiac arrest, key updates in the new cardiopulmonary resuscitation guidelines, the latest technologies for CPR response at the emergency dispatch center stage, and advanced quality management methods for cardiac arrest response.

Sharing Latest Technologies and AI-Based Response Strategies

In particular, the workshop shared recent technology trends such as video-call-based CPR instruction, data-driven quality management systems, and measures to strengthen emergency dispatch center-level response.

Participants also held practical discussions on how artificial intelligence-based cardiac arrest response technologies could be applied and used in the field.

Strengthening Pre-Hospital Emergency Response

The National Fire Agency and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency plan to continue close cooperation in analyzing sudden cardiac arrest occurrence patterns and treatment outcomes. Through this cooperation, the two agencies will further strengthen technology-based pre-hospital emergency response systems and work to improve survival outcomes for critically ill emergency patients.

“Data accumulated through sudden cardiac arrest investigations provide an important foundation for developing policies to prevent cardiac arrest and improve patient survival rates,” said Lim Seung-kwan, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. “We will continue to provide scientific evidence through stable investigations and work to improve patient outcomes.”

“Improving the survival rate of sudden cardiac arrest patients requires rapid and accurate response at every stage, from emergency call receipt to on-scene treatment and hospital transfer,” said Kim Seung-ryong, Commissioner of the National Fire Agency.

“We will continue to advance our emergency medical service quality management system based on the latest technologies and data, and do our utmost to secure the golden time needed to protect people’s lives,” he added.