Mass-Gathering Medicine: Creation of an Online Event and Patient Registry[1]
Summary
Introduction/Problem A review of the mass-gathering medicine literature confirms that the research community currently lacks a standardized approach to data collection and reporting in relation to large-scale community events. This lack of consistency, particularly with regard to event characteristics, patient characteristics, acuity determination, and reporting of illness and injury rates makes comparisons between and across events difficult. In addition, a lack of access to good data across events makes planning medical support on-site, for transport, and at receiving hospitals, challenging. This report describes the development of an Internet-hosted, secure registry for event and patient data in relation to mass gatherings. Methods Descriptive; development and pilot testing of a Web-based event and patient registry. Results Several iterations of the registry have resulted in a cross-event platform for standardized data collection at a variety of events. Registry and reporting field