Ranse J, Lenson S, Keene T, Luther M, Burke B, Hutton A. (2014). Patient presentations to onsite health providers, ambulance paramedics and hospital emergency departments from a mass gathering: a case study; poster presented at the Paramedics Australasia International Conference 2014, Gold Coast, Australia, 18-20 September.

1. Patient presentations to onsite health providers, ambulance paramedics and hospital emergency departments from a mass gathering: a case study
Mr Jamie Ranse, Mr Shane Lenson, Mr Toby Keene, Mr Matt Luther, Dr Brandon Burke, Associate Professor Alison Hutton
BACKGROUND
•A number of challenges exist in providing adequate health care at a mass gathering.
•Health providers aim to maximise their efficiency in responding to health emergencies within the mass gathering environment, whilst minimising potential impact of surge presentations to the health service in the surrounding community or region.
•The mass gathering literature commonly reports on the onsite care from single events, and does not consider the effect on prehospital or hospital services.
Aim
This research aims to enhance our understanding of the health service requirements of an outdoor music festival
DISCUSSION
•This is the first research to describe patient presentations to onsite care providers, prehospital services and hospitals from a mass gathering.
•This research provides insight into the health service usage from one event.
•Presentation to the onsite health professionals resulted in a longer length of stay in the onsite medical facility.
•Onsite health professionals may have diverted 15 patients who would have otherwise been seen by local ambulance and hospital services.
•Multi-site research should be undertaken to explore the health service usage from a variety of mass gatherings.
1. Ranse J, Hutton A. (2012). Minimum data set for mass gathering health research and evaluation: A discussion paper. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine. 27(6):1-8.
197
Presentations to onsite first aid care
24
Presentations to onsite doctors, nurses and paramedics
15 Returned to the event
7
Transported to hospital
2
Discharged to police
RESULTS
5 Emergency / short stay < 24 hours
1
Operating theatre admission
1
Intensive Care Unit admission
ONSITE FIRST AID CARE
Gender
Male: n=54 (31%)
Female: n= 119 (64%)
Treatment Length of Stay
Mean: = 11 Minutes (SD 11)
Primary Presentation
Injury: n=40 (23%)
Illness : n=119 (69%)
Environmental: n= 12 (7%)
Mental Health: n= 2 (1%)
ONSITE HEALTH PROFESSIONAL CARE Gender Male: n=12 (50%) Female: n= 12 (50%) Treatment Length of Stay Mean: = 76 Minutes (SD 45) Primary Presentation Injury: n=5 (20%) Illness : n=7 (30%) Environmental: n= 12 (50%)
METHODS
Design
Retrospective review of patient report forms from onsite health services at outdoor music festival.
Setting
One outdoor music festival in 2012 in the Australian Capital Territory with approximately 20,000 participants. The festival had one first aid post and a health team staffed by doctors, nurses and paramedics.
Data collection
Data was obtained and linked between onsite care providers (St John Ambulance Australia), prehospital (ACT Ambulance Service) and hospitals (Canberra Hospital and Calvary Health Care ACT).
A pre-exisiting and used minimum data set1 was used to code patient characteristics from this event.
Data analysis
Descriptive statistics such as frequency distributions and means of central tendency.
Onsite first aid care
•The most frequent illness was headaches (n=94), injury was superficial lacerations (n=13), environmental was substance and/or alcohol intoxication (n=12). Onsite health professional care
•The most frequent illness was headaches (n=3), injury was fractures (n=2), environmental was substance and/or alcohol intoxication (n=12). Ambulance transport
•The most frequent injury was fractures (n=2), environmental was substance and/or alcohol intoxication (n=4).
•One patient required prehospital endotracheal intubation,
•Three patients required airway adjuncts,
•Six patients received intravenous medications from paramedics including opioids. Hospital services
•One patient required an open reduction and internal fixation in the operating theatre.
•One patient required intubation and ventilator support in the Intensive Care Unit.