Happy New Year! Do New Year’s Eve Festivities Influence the Workload of the Emergency Department of an Urban Hospital?

Abstract

Introduction:

Bruges is the largest city in the province of West-Flanders in Belgium. Because of its ample canals, it is sometimes referred to as “Venice of the North.” As such, it is a major tourist destination, and during New Year’s Eve, there are many festivities. The AZ Sint-Jan is the largest hospital providing medical care to the area.

Aim:

To examine the impact of the New Year’s Eve festivities on the workload of the emergency department of AZ Sint-Jan.

Methods:

Data was analyzed for every patient presenting to the emergency department from the 31^st of December starting from 06:00 PM until the 1^st of January 08:00 AM from 2009 until 2018. The time of entry, type of injury, gender, age, and whether the patient was intoxicated were evaluated. Ten other dates in this time period were obtained for comparison via a random date generator. Data were analyzed using Jasp©.

Results:

There were 826 patients included for analysis. On average, 41 patients presented themselves to the emergency department on New Year’s Eve between 06:00 PM and 08:00 AM. On a random day, there were only 31 patients. Most of the patients on New Year’s Eve arrived between 00:00 AM and 08:00 AM. 57% of all patients were male. 22% of all patients were intoxicated with alcohol. From 00:00 AM until 08:00 AM, one in three patients were intoxicated. The average age on admission was 36 years.

Discussion:

During New Year’s Eve there is a consistently higher workload in the emergency department. There is an influx of young males who are intoxicated. These patients tend to stay a long time to “sleep it off” and put considerable stress on the available resources. More attention should be given to risk mitigation strategies tailored to this group to prevent excessive drinking.