[Medical care in large camp grounds--a report of experiences]

This paper reports on the experiences gathered in respect of medical care during a ten-day youth camp with members of German girl guide and boy scout associations in the summer of 1988 comparising 6,000 youngsters. Large-scale tent camping of children and adolescents lasting for several days requires a costly and complicated infrastructure for self-support. A medical aid unit where patients can also be looked after on an inpatient basis if necessary, is mandatory if there are more than approximately 300 campers. There should be a doctor-participants ratio of 1:500 or 1:800 for "around-the-clock" availability of medical aid. One of the doctors in the medical team should be a surgeon or a doctor particularly skilled in minor surgery. Every doctor should have three medical assistants at his disposal. Cooperation with hospitals and practising physicians in the neighbourhood should be clarified and organised beforehand. The most frequently occurring diseases in the tent camp were injuries (36% of the patient material), infectious diseases (30%) often of a viral nature and physically conditioned noxae (sunburn, solar dermatitis, burns). About 8% of the patients had to be treated on an inpatient basis in the medical camp unit. Severe lesions or injuries were very rare, probably mainly thanks to the disciplined behaviour of the participants in the camp.