The Impact of In-Event Health Services at Europe’s Largest Electronic Dance Music Festival on Ems and Ed in the Host Community

Kris Spaepen (), Robby Cardinas, Winne A. P. Haenen, Leonard Kaufman and Ives Hubloue
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Kris Spaepen: Research Group on Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Robby Cardinas: Het Vlaamse Kruis, 2630 Antwerp, Belgium
Winne A. P. Haenen: Crisis Management at Federal Public Health Service, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Leonard Kaufman: Research Group on Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Ives Hubloue: Research Group on Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Brussels, Belgium

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: Background: Electronic dance music festivals (EDMF) can cause a significant disruption in the standard operational capacity of emergency medical services (EMS) and hospitals. We determined whether or not the presence of in-event health services (IEHS) can reduce the impact of Europe’s largest EDMF on the host community EMS and local emergency departments (EDs). Methods: We conducted a pre-post analysis of the impact of Europe’s largest EDMF in July 2019, in Boom, Belgium, on the host community EMS and local EDs. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, independent t -tests, and χ 2 analysis. Results: Of 400,000 attendees, 12,451 presented to IEHS. Most patients only required in-event first aid, but 120 patients had a potentially life-threatening condition. One hundred fifty-two patients needed to be transported by IEHS to nearby hospitals, resulting in a transport-to-hospital rate of 0.38/1000 attendees. Eighteen patients remained admitted to the hospital for >24 h; one died after arrival in the ED. IEHS limited the overall impact of the MGE on regular EMS and nearby hospitals. No predictive model proved optimal when proposing the optimal number and level of IEHS members. Conclusions: This study shows that IEHS at this event limited ambulance usage and mitigated the event’s impact on regular emergency medical and health services.

Keywords: emergency medical services; emergency department; mass gatherings; mass gathering medicine; mitigation; electronic dance music festival; event medicine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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