CASE 47
 |
Incident
You have been asked to oversee medical and major incident cover at a music concert in a large capital city. The organisers expect 50,000 people to attend.
Questions
47.1 How will you plan for the event? [Present a broad outline for managing mass-gathering events focusing on a venue such as that in the picture.]
47.2 What are your priorities on the day?
Discussion
47.1 For mass-gathering and event medicine, preparation and planning is key and should begin well before the event.
Safety
The venue
Accurate information about the venue is essential and, ideally, the clinician should visit the location in advance. Considerations that should be addressed include:
• Geographical location.
• Nearby hospitals and available medical specialties.
• Open-air or closed venue?
• Seated, standing or both?
• Access and egress to all locations within the venue.
• Access and egress to local hospitals and estimated time frames.
• Local and national guidelines for stadiums and events.
The population
• There is a reasonable estimate of the number of persons attending based on ticket sales but for free events such as street parades there is no accurate way of predicting attendance.
• The nature of the event will define certain aspects of the population attending. This event, being a music concert, suggests a young crowd with a high risk of alcohol and drug use. It is very likely that alcohol will be available in the venue, albeit with certain restrictions.
The medical team
• This is an event requiring several medical personnel and, as lead clinician, you must establish what medical personnel are available.
• National guidelines may dictate how many physicians are required at such an event but there are rarely guidelines as to the training and experience of such doctors. In some situations, you may be the only doctor.
• The venue may have a medical centre, which can resemble a hospital or clinic but the environment outside the medical centre will also need medical cover.
< div class='tao-gold-member'>
Only gold members can continue reading. Log In or Register to continue
Stay updated, free articles. Join our Telegram channel
Full access? Get Clinical Tree
