Critical (or intensive) care medicine (CCM) is a branch of medicine concerned with the care of patients with potentially reversible life-threatening conditions. Numerous studies have demonstrated that adequate staffing is of crucial importance for patient outcome. Adequate staffing also showed favorable cost-effectiveness in terms of ICU stay, decreased use of resources, and lower re-admission rates. The current status of CCM of our country is not comparable to that of advanced countries. The global pandemic episodes in the past decade showed that our society is not well prepared for severe illnesses or mass casualty. To improve CCM in Korea, reimbursement of the government must be amended such that referral hospitals can hire sufficient number of qualified intensivists and nurses. For the government to address these urgent issues, public awareness of the role of CCM is also required.
Keywords: Critical Care Medicine; Intensivist; Korea.