Emergency department visits from a local amusement park

There are limited published data examining Emergency Department (ED) presentations associated with amusement parks, and even fewer data on presentations not associated with roller coaster rides.

To determine the spectrum of medical and traumatic presentations to two EDs from nearby amusement parks.

A retrospective chart review of prospectively identified, enrolled, and surveyed patients was conducted at two EDs in Pennsylvania during the summer of 2006. Any patient presenting with a medical or traumatic complaint that occurred within 12 h of ED presentation and was associated with a visit to the local amusement park was prospectively identified and details of the visit were retrospectively reviewed.

There were a total of 325 discharge diagnoses for the 296 ED visits identified; 74% of discharge diagnoses were trauma related. The most common traumatic diagnoses were laceration (27%) and head injury or concussion (14%). The most common non-traumatic diagnosis was heat-related illness (24%). Twenty-nine percent of discharge diagnoses were directly associated with amusement park rides. Eighty-nine percent of patients were discharged home. There were no mortalities reported.

The majority of ED visits from nearby amusement parks were benign and did not require hospitalization.