Emergency healthcare delivery for young adults during a planned mass gathering: A retrospective observational study

摘要

Abstract Objective To describe patient presentation characteristics and outcomes for people aged 16–18?years pre, during and post a planned youth mass gathering event (MGE): ‘Schoolies week’ on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Methods This was a retrospective observational study, including patient presentations by all young adults requiring care in the ED or in‐event health services (EHS) over a 21‐day period in 2014. Data analysis included descriptive and inferential statistics. Results A total of 1029 patient presentations were made by people aged 16–18 years to the ED and EHS over the 21‐day study period (139 pre, 695 during [275 in ED, 420 in EHS], 195 post Schoolies week). Some ED patient characteristics and outcomes varied between the pre, during and post Schoolies periods, such as patients age ( P ?0.001), usual place of residence ( P ?0.001) and not waiting for treatment ( P =?0.015). Of the 24?375 registered MGE attendees, 420 (1.72% [95% confidence interval 1.57–1.89], 17.2/1000) presented for in‐event care. Most patients were allocated an Australasian Triage Scale category of 4 ( n = 162, 65.6%), with toxicology related presentations ( n = 169, 44.9%). Transportation to hospital was undertaken for seven MGE attendees (0.03% [95% confidence interval 0.01–0.06], 0.3/1000). Conclusions Establishment of an in‐event model of care for 1?week during Schoolies served as an effective hospital avoidance strategy for a planned youth MGE. Such in‐event models of care may be considered for other similar future MGE.