Expedition health and safety: a risk assessment

Citation
Sr. Anderson et Cjh. Johnson, Expedition health and safety: a risk assessment, J ROY S MED, 93(11), 2000, pp. 557-562
Citations number
16
Categorie Soggetti
General & Internal Medicine","Medical Research General Topics
Journal title
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE
ISSN journal
01410768 → ACNP
Volume
93
Issue
11
Year of publication
2000
Pages
557 - 562
Database
ISI
SICI code
0141-0768(200011)93:11<557:EHASAR>2.0.ZU;2-O
Abstract
Little has been published on the risks of participating in an expedition. A questionnaire survey was conducted to quantify those risks and to determin e how expedition organizers plan for medical mishaps. 246 expeditions, taking 2381 participants to more than one hundred countrie s, were studied retrospectively. 65 expeditions (26%) reported no medical i ncidents; the remaining 181 reported 835 in 130000 man-days (6.4 per 1000 m an-days). 59% of the medical incidents seen on expeditions were preventable , one-third of these being due to gastrointestinal upsets. 78% of medical i ncidents were classified as minor and only 5% (40) as serious. There was no excess of serious incidents in any particular organizational group or envi ronment. The findings of this survey suggest that the health risks of participating in a well-planned expedition are similar to those encountered during normal active life.