On-Site Physicians Reduce Ambulance Transports at Mass Gatherings

Abstract

On-site physician-level medical care at large mass gatherings significantly reduces the number of patients requiring transport to hospitals, thus reducing the impact on the local EMS system and surrounding medical facilities.

Fire Jumpers: Description of Burns and Traumatic Injuries from a Spontaneous Mass Gathering and Celebratory Riot

“…These results are in accordance with previous findings that such field stations have the potential to reduce unneeded transports and can potentially free up local medical facilities to focus on patients with more severe injuries and medical complaints (20).…”

Use of Treat-and-Release Medical Directives for Paramedics at a Mass Gathering

“…Given this limitation, one rationale for having on-site physicians at mass gatherings is to reduce the need for off-site ambulance transports. 1 Treatand-release medical directives may be another means of limiting the need for physician assessment or offsite transport, but the use of such directives at mass gatherings has not been previously described. Limited experience with such protocols had been accumulated at smaller mass gatherings in Toronto, but no systematic review with respect to their role or effectiveness had been carried out.…”

“…Many patients do not require transport to community hospitals if appropriate management and disposition are available at the event. 1 A variety of strategies are used to limit the number of transports off site and reduce the impact on hospitals in the community. These usually include the implementation of field hospitals staffed by physicians and nurses, first-aid units staffed by a variety of personnel, and mobile paramedic teams.…”

Effects of international football matches on ambulance call profiles and volumes during the 2006 World Cup

“…1 In addition to this increasing call volume, extreme weather conditions 2 3 and public events [4][5][6] create significant additional fluxes in demand. With limited resources struggling to meet performance targets, unforeseen demand precludes the ability to tailor resources to cope with increased call volumes, and can have a marked detrimental effect on performance and hence patient care.…”