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The "Sherman effect": decreased ambulatory care volumes in Atlanta during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games
1Emory University, Department of Emergency Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. ipitts@sph.emory.edu
Insights
The 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games saw decreased healthcare visits at local facilities before and during the event, with a rise only after the closing ceremonies. Staffing should be adjusted post-event, not during, for mass gatherings.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Healthcare Management
- Event Planning
Background:
- Large-scale events like the Olympic Games can impact local healthcare resource utilization.
- Understanding these impacts is crucial for effective healthcare planning and resource allocation.
- Previous observations suggested lower-than-expected patient volumes during the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the effect of the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games on visits to local ambulatory healthcare facilities.
- To analyze patient visit trends in relation to the Olympic Games schedule.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of administrative data from various ambulatory healthcare facilities in Atlanta.
- Comparison of median visit rates before, during, and after the Olympic Games.
- Inclusion of 132,826 patient visits across designated hospitals, emergency departments, walk-in clinics, and health maintenance organization facilities.
Main Results:
- Non-venue facilities experienced a decrease in visits (0-8.4%) the week before the Games.
- During the Games, non-venue facilities showed variable changes, ranging from 3.2% above to 16.1% below baseline.
- All studied facilities saw an increase in visits (3.0%-13.7%) in the week following the closing ceremonies.
Conclusions:
- Community ambulatory care sites did not experience a significant volume increase until after the Olympic Games concluded.
- Findings suggest that healthcare staffing adjustments for mass gatherings should be planned for the period immediately following the event.
- Further research on other large-scale events is needed to confirm these observations and refine healthcare preparedness strategies.
Objective:
To estimate the effect of the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games on visits to local ambulatory healthcare facilities.
Design:
Comparison of median visit rates by time period, obtained from retrospective review of administrative data.
Setting:
The emergency department of the designated athletes' hospital, the public hospital's adult emergency department and adult walk-in clinics, and the adult and paediatric outpatient facilities of a large health maintenance organisation.
Patients:
All 132,826 visitors to the designated facilities during the study interval.
Main Outcome Measure:
Daily visit frequencies at each facility. Our informal observations had suggested that volumes were not as high as expected.
Results:
In all but the athletes' designated hospital, there was a decrease in average volumes the week before the opening ceremonies, ranging from zero to 8.4% of baseline. Average daily volumes in these non-venue facilities varied from 3.2% above to 16.1% below baseline during the two weeks of the Games, but all experienced an increase in volumes the week after the closing ceremonies, ranging from 3.0% to 13.7% of baseline.
Conclusion:
Unlike the venue-related facility, community ambulatory care sites did not encounter a significant rise in volumes until after the closing ceremonies. Although confirmation from other events is needed, our data suggest that, in addition to increased preparedness for sudden volume surges, overtime staffing of local facilities during planned mass gatherings should occur not during, but immediately after, the event.
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