Medical issues relating to the Sydney Olympic Games

Impact of a major sporting event on local orthopaedic service provision: Commonwealth Games 2018, Gold Coast, Australia

BACKGROUND

The Gold Coast (Queensland, Australia) held the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Previous studies have focussed on the socio-economic and employment impact of hosting a major sporting event; however, there is limited research available about the provision of medical recourses required of the host city.

METHODS

Twelve weeks of data were retrospectively collected from the local health service to quantify the orthopaedic department workload for the period surrounding the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Data collected included referrals to Orthopaedic Fracture Outpatient clinic, theatre cases - emergency and category 1 (scheduled trauma) performed, and entries made into electronic medical records by the on-call orthopaedic staff.

RESULTS

A statistically significant increase was found for theatre cases performed during the Commonwealth Games (86 versus 71 cases per week, P = 0.033, 95% confidence interval 1.46-27.5). We found no statistically significant increase in Fracture Outpatient Clinic referrals or medical record entries between peri-games and games periods (P = 0.149 and 0.699, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Based on our experience, orthopaedic departments should plan for an increase in operative intervention requirements of at least 20%, in consultation with other local services. Strategic use of pre-existing resources and staff may be sufficient to address the increased workload during the event period.

Divide and rule: A qualitative analysis of the debriefing process in elite team sports

This article aimed to gain an understanding of the process of debriefing during major competitions in elite team sports. Debrief interviews were conducted with 9 head coaches. The interview data were used to identify how head coaches divided up the tasks given to staff and team members prior to, and during the post-match debriefing. Results showed that debriefing consisted of two steps: preparation and presentation. Preparation referred to four successive tasks. Presentation to the team of players consisted of eight tasks relating to transformational and transactional styles of leadership. Coaches were shown to divide the labor within the staff and team. The data tend to support the view that in elite team sports, coaches are both transformational and transactional leaders, adapting their style of leadership to the situation, athletes and time available. This study provides insights into the task-work and team-work underlying team functioning and division of labor.

Medical care delivery at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

BACKGROUND

Beijing successfully hosted the 2008 Olympic Games, and the services including medical services were widely appreciated by both participants and visitors. We retrospectively analyzed the quality of the medical services provided to athletes, spectators, VIPs, and the workforce during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The information thus gathered would be useful for planning strategies for managing mass gatherings.

METHODS

Medical encounter forms filled during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games were retrospectively reviewed. Descriptive statistics was used to characterize the data by accreditation and diagnostic categories.

RESULTS

A total of 22 892 medical encounters were documented during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Among them, 10 549 (46.08%) involved the workforce, 3 365 (14.70%) athletes, 3 019 (13.19%) spectators, 585 (2.56%) members of the media, 1 065 (4.65%) VIPs, and 4 309 (18.82%) others. Of the 22 892 cases, physical injury accounted for 27.90% (6 386), respiratory disease 18.21% (4 169), and heat-related illnesses 2.68% (615).

CONCLUSIONS

Preparations of the medical service for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games were made for 7 years, and the service provided has been praised worldwide. This study provides valuable information that may be useful for planning medical services for upcoming Olympic Games, including the London 2012 Olympic Games and other mass gatherings.

Planning of traumatological hospital resources for a major winter sporting event as illustrated by the 2005 Winter Universiad

INTRODUCTION

The 22nd Student World Winter Games took place in January 2005 in Innsbruck and Seefeld, Austria. Exactly 1,500 athletes of 50 nationalities competed in 69 events in ten winter sports. A total number of 750 functionaries, 800 volunteers and 85,000 spectators participated in the second largest winter sports event behind the Olympic winter games.

AIM

The aim of this study was to evaluate the needed resources to ensure traumatological care for an event of that size.

MATERIAL

At the medical "call-center" all consultations, as well as patient data, diagnosis, and medical treatment were recorded using a preset protocol. Further, all patients treated in the University Hospital Innsbruck were registered with an emphasis on trauma patients.

RESULTS

Forty-eight of 65 patients transported to the hospital as a result of the Universiade were trauma patients, 37 of whom were athletes. The gender distribution was 34:14 (m:f). Ice hockey players had the highest rate of injury (25% of all injured athletes), followed by alpine skiers (20.8% of injured athletes). The highest ISS was nine. Forty-three patients got ambulatory treatment, five were admitted to the hospital and surgical treatment was conducted in three cases. Mean patient number was 4.8 per day. No additional personnel, structural, or technical hospital resources were needed to accommodate a large winter sports event like the Universiad. Thus, a level-B trauma center with an emergency room and independent traumatological department with around the clock surgical capability seems to be sufficient to provide traumatological care for an event of this size if the possibility of patient transport to a larger facility exists in the case of catastrophic events.

The Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012: literature review of the logistical planning and operational challenges for public health

OBJECTIVE

To undertake a review of the literature relating to public health planning and interventions at previous summer Olympic and Paralympic Games and other relevant major summer sporting events or mass gatherings, with a focus on official publications and peer-reviewed articles.

STUDY DESIGN

Literature review.

METHODS

A literature review was undertaken using all biomedical databases and a freetext search using Google to widen the search beyond peer-reviewed publications. Search terms used were: Olympics; Paralympics; mass gatherings; mass gathering medicine; sporting events; weather; planning; and organisation. Citations within articles were searched to identify additional references that would inform this review. This literature review concentrates on the public health aspects of population care at mass gatherings, particularly the Olympic and Paralympic Games which are set over several weeks, focusing on surveillance, prevention and health service quality.

RESULTS

The literature identified 10 areas of public health planning: public health command centre and communication; surveillance, assessment and control; environmental health and safety; infectious disease outbreaks; implications of weather conditions; health promotion; travel information; economic assessments; public transport and reduction of asthma events; and preparing athletes for potential allergies. The following themes emerged as crucial factors for the success of any public health interventions at Olympic and Paralympic Games: detailed planning of deliverables; pre-identification of critical success factors; management of risk; detailed contingency planning; and full testing of all plans prior to the event.

CONCLUSIONS

The 2012 Olympic Games will provide an exciting challenge for public health providers and systems. Preparation requires early detailed planning of policies, procedures and on-site health promotion events, in addition to helping to set up the surveillance and monitoring systems that will capture public health activity alongside medical activity. Learning from the literature review will support the identification of critical success factors and help to formulate recommendations that will allow optimal utilization of public health initiatives. All plans require full costings in advance which are supported by internal and external health-related agencies, voluntary organizations and sponsors. A risk assessment should be undertaken as part of the planning process leading to risk management plans for mitigating identified potential risks. All surveillance and monitoring systems, communication, policies and procedures will require full testing prior to commencement of the Games.

Medical care at the VIIth International Amateur Athletics Federation World Championships in Athletics ‘Sevilla ‘99’

INTRODUCTION

The World Athletics Championships are considered to be the third most important sporting event on the planet. Before the celebration of their seventh meeting in Seville, Spain, the need for medical care, as in the Olympic Games, was supposed to be low and of minimal complexity. It was nevertheless judged necessary to install strategically located assistance points, and to evaluate the results of this intervention. METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN: Following the planning phase carried out by a multidisciplinary commission of health, set up by the Organizer Committee, which prepared protocols, that were elaborated by five working groups, the operation developed during the World Championships in Athletics is described. Five clinics and several first aid stations were set up in the stadium and its surroundings, in hotels, warm-up and training tracks, the high-speed train station and the airport, as well as strategic points in the city.

RESULTS

There were 1338 medical consultations, and 35 patients (2.6%) were transferred to hospitals. 21 codes of the International Classification of Disease constituted 50.4% of the case mix. Injuries, which accounted for 36.1% of all medical visits, were more common among athletes (48.9%) than among other groups. Injuries accounted for 30.5% of all other groups combined. Spectators and other groups accounted for most (86.8 and 63.1%, respectively) of the 276 visits concerning contusions and 165 visits for heat-related illness. The overall physician treatment rate was 19.3% for athletes and 4.5/10 000 for spectators.

CONCLUSION

The preparation of a potent pre-hospital service, strategically located and dedicated to the event, was able to solve the problems that occurred. Nevertheless, a hospital alert and a coordination centre are also necessary. These data should be useful in planning medical resources for future mass sporting events.

Injury toll following the 1997 Maccabiah Games bridge collapse: implications of major disasters for sports medicine teams

A major disaster was encountered at the 1997 Maccabiah Games in Israel. As the Australian team was about to enter the main stadium for the opening ceremony, a pedestrian bridge they were crossing collapsed, killing 4 athletes and injuring many others. The aim of this paper is to establish the rates, types and anatomical locations of musculoskeletal injuries incurred by members of the Australian Maccabiah Games team, with particular reference to the impact of the bridge collapse. In total, the 410 members of the team (360 athletes and coaches and 50 team officials) reported 166 injuries from their participation in sport and 30 musculoskeletal injuries associated with the collapse of the bridge. The most common sports-related injuries were sprains and strains to the hip/thigh, lumbar spine and ankle/foot regions, while the bridge collapse resulted in, most commonly, sprains and contusions to the hip/thigh, knee, lower leg and ankle/foot regions. In addition, team members incurred many medical and psychological conditions. This paper makes several recommendations for sports medicine staff based on the experience of this significant sport disaster.