Abstract -- Mass gatherings have become more popular in Taiwan. A mass gathering has been defined as a collection of greater than 1,000 people at one site. In such situations, injury and illness rates, as well as the incidence of cardiac arrests, are higher than that of the general population under general conditions.
It was estimated that there were 1 million people were injured during sporting or recreational activities every year in Australia. The medical cost was estimated to be 1 billion dollars a year. In case of providing rapid response of advanced life support care to victims of cardiac arrest, it was estimated that in large stadiums throughout the United States could save as many as 100 lives during each football season.
This study investigated 12 mass gatherings during 2002. Which included marathon and road running races, baseball games, rowing competition, triathlon competition, rock concert, and swimming race. Total participants were about 129,876 people. 3837 patients were served totally. The medical use rate was 3.0% (ranged from 0.05% to 14.59%). Three patients were transported to hospital for further treatment. Severe and fatal cases, and mass casualties did occur at mass gatherings in Taiwan. A good EMS preparation for a mass gathering is also very important here.It is necessary for us to legislate governing medical care at mass gatherings for the participants’ life safety.