Mass gatherings (MGs) often bring together professionals and organizations that collaborate irregularly or have never engaged in joint working. They involve interaction and communication among multiple and diverse services, which can often prove challenging. Planning such an event is of paramount importance for its success, and interorganizational communication ranks among its most important aspects. Nonetheless, there is limited empirical evidence to support interagency communication in MGs.

This study used the 2017 Athens Marathon (Athens, Greece) as the empirical setting to examine how interorganizational communication was perceived among the multiple public health and safety professionals during the planning and implementation phase of the event.

Data comprised 15 semi-structured in-depth interviews with key informants, direct observations of meetings and the event itself, and documentary analysis. Open coding and thematic analysis were used to analyze the data.

Findings indicated three key components of interorganizational communication in such an event: (1) shared situational awareness; (2) interorganizational understanding; and (3) implementing liaison officers.

This study outlined the factors that influenced interorganizational communication before and during a MG. Practical implications arising from this study may inform the way organizers of marathons and other mass sporting events can engage in effective interorganizational communication.

Unpredictable environmental conditions, crowd dynamics, and a variety of medical emergencies create logistical and clinical obstacles when planning emergency medical response coverage for mass-gathering events. In a collaborative endeavor between a university athletics program and an academic division of Emergency Medicine, a stadium emergency medical response system was created consisting of hospital-based healthcare providers and pre-hospital healthcare providers.

Provide descriptive statistics relevant to the nature and frequency of injury/illness, location of treatment within stadium confines, and resources used in the care of students, event staff, and spectators during collegiate football operations, to assist in future planning of mass-gathering events.

A continuously updated, quality assurance database of de-identified, aggregate statistics was utilized to analyze trends regarding aspects of medical operations.

During a 7-game home football season, there were a total of 399 patients encounters, including 1 cardiac arrest (0.25%), 12 “life-threatening” (3.01%), 121 urgent (30.33%), and 266 routine (66.67%). Total season attendance was 201,248 attendees (28,749/game and 19.83 patients encounters per 10,000 in attendance). Twenty-eight patients were transported (1.39 per 10,000), with eight resultant hospital admissions. Encounters varied by complaint, with skin (42%) comprising the largest number of encounters. Other categories included: (1) heat-related (23.5%); (2) allergic (15%); (3) neurologic (10.3%); (4) cardiopulmonary (3.5%); (5) gastrointestinal (3.6%); (6) musculoskeletal (5%); and (7) other (5%). Encounters increased noticeably when the heat index was greater than 80 °F– (29.4 vs. 10.5 per 10,000 attendees).

The collaborative effort by a multi-level provider model adequately covered presenting medical conditions. Consistent with previously literature, a strong correlation existed between heat index and number of patient encounters deemed urgent and routine. Interestingly, the number of “life-threatening” encounters did not appear to vary much with the heat index. Further studies of medical presentations and provider/resource utilization could provide for predictive modeling of future staffing and supply models.

The consequences of a major incident at a sporting event could be catastrophic. Therefore, there should be an estimation of the healthcare resources at such events as part of the planning. Although there are National guidelines (e.g., Planning Safe Public Events: Practical Guidelines in Australia) defining the role of the healthcare system at sporting events, these guidelines either lack a simple calculating method to estimate the need for healthcare resources or the methods are complex and impractical to use. The objective of this study was to find a safe and easy method for the estimation of healthcare resources at sporting events.

A model for the estimation of healthcare resources at music events recently has been approved in Sweden. After minor adjustments, this model was used at sport events by a number of planning officers. The models' accuracy and usability was evaluated by analyzing its outcome in a pilot and a controlled study using different sporting and non-sporting scenarios.

The pilot study showed that the model was valid and easily could be used for various sporting events. The obtained estimations were consistent with the methods used by experienced planning officers in 97% of cases. The results of the controlled study showed that by using this model, the minimum amount of resources required easily could be calculated at sporting events and by people with different backgrounds.

This model safely can be used at sporting events.

Although the need for on-site physicians at mass gatherings has been investigated in developed countries, it has not been studied in a developing country, where resources are limited, paramedical services are unavailable, and transportation and other facilities are inadequate.

The presence of on-site physicians would result in the effective management and prehospital care of casualties at mass gatherings or major sporting events in a developing country.

A retrospective review of the planning procedures and medical records of the 19th Nigerian University games was conducted. Data from demographic profiles of visitors presenting to the on-site, secondary, and tertiary medical centers and the treatments used were extracted from log-books and processed and interpreted.

The Games hosted 6,000 accredited athletes and officials, and an estimated 80,000 spectators. Medical coverage was provided by 54 doctors and other healthcare staff at on-site, secondary, and tertiary medical centers. No trained paramedics were available. A total of 494 visits were made to the medical centers (medical usage rate of 2.1/1,000, patient presentation rate of 0.08). Forty-six percent of the visitors were evaluated by a physician on-site. Ninety percent of the visits were managed on-site, while 5% and 3% were referred to secondary and tertiary medical centers, respectively.

The presence of on-site physicians at a major sporting event resulted in the majority of injuries and complaints being effectively treated on-scene. This reduced the number of hospital referrals and saved time and money for treatment.

An extensive review was conducted using the computerized databases Medline and Healthstar from 1977 through May 2002. Articles selected contained information pertaining to mass-gathering variables. These articles were read, abstracted, analyzed, and compiled.

Multiple variables are present during a mass gathering, and they interact in complex and dynamic ways. The interaction of these variables contributes to the number of patients treated at an event (medical usage rate) as well as the observed injury patterns. Important variables include weather, event type, event duration, age, crowd mood and density, attendance, and alcohol and drug use.

Developing an understanding of the variables associated with mass gatherings should be the first step for event planners. After these variables are considered, a thorough needs analysis can be performed and resource allocation can be based on objective data.