Mass-gathering Events: The Role of Advanced Nurse Practitioners in Reducing Referrals to Local Health Care Agencies

What is it about?

Mass gatherings bring not only crowds to an event but on occasions can overwhelm a local ED. This paper reports on the success story behind an advanced nurse practitioner leading a clinical team of first aiders and paramedics at a series of such events in the South East of the UK. It demonstrates that such leadership significantly reduces the referrals and where referrals are made they are to a range of health care resources more appropriate to the needs of the patient.

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Why is it important?

Traditionally clinical leadership and decision making has been thought of as being in the domain of medical doctors alone. This paper adds to the growing evidence that this is not the case, it also demonstrates that the range of conditions presenting requires a practitioner who is as comfortable and experienced in dealing with minor illness and injury (very common presentations) to the more serious where care is need on scene including those who are critically unwell (rare).

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