Medical care at the California XXXX Ride 3: experiences in event medicine.

@entity1 @entity791
STUDY OBJECTIVE: Providing medical care at special events is a growing area of concern of emergency physicians. Little information has been published on events in which @entity1 outnumber spectators. We describe such an event at which the medical encounters far outnumbered any previously published report. METHODS: The California @entity791 Ride 3 bicycle ride took place June 1-8, 1996, and covered 547 miles of highway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. One hundred five volunteer staff members provided medical care. Extensive @entity1 encounters were recorded on a one-page form; all other encounters were recorded as hash marks by the provider. Two physicians reviewed the medical records and categorized each encounter. RESULTS: Of the 25,379 @entity1 encounters recorded over the 8 days of the event, 509 were triaged as greater severity (requiring an examination by a physician); 31% of these involved heat-related illnesses. Fifty-five @entity1 required transport to local emergency departments by the local EMS systems; 7 of these @entity1 required hospital admission. CONCLUSION: The California @entity791 Ride 3 required more medical personnel and resulted in more @entity1 encounters than any similar event previously described. We describe the medical care team and @entity1 encounters to facilitate planning for medical care at future class 3 events.
