Peake D E, Gray C L, Ludwig M R, Hill C D
Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, USA.
Ann Emerg Med. 1999 Jan;33(1):67-72. doi: 10.1016/s0196-0644(99)70419-1.
To provide information, which can be used in the formation of guidelines concerning medical facilities and staff on cruise ships, on the descriptive epidemiology of the medical conditions encountered by cruise ship physicians.
A retrospective descriptive epidemiologic study design was used to evaluate patient physician encounters on cruises originating in a calendar-year period for the 4 ships of a major cruise ship line with cruises originating in the United States. Demographic data regarding sex and age of the passengers on these ships were available for each cruise. We collected information on patient age, sex, chief complaint, diagnoses, treatment, and patient disposition recorded in the patients' medical records in the ships' medical logs.
Seven thousand one hundred forty-seven new patient visits occurred in a population of 196,171 passengers and 1,537,298 passenger days; 56.7% of passengers were female, and 60.7% of patients were female; 43.3% of passengers and 39.6% of patients were male. Visits to the ship infirmaries were made for the following reasons: 18.2% of visits were related to injuries, 69.3% were related to medical conditions, and 12.5% were unspecified or other conditions. The most common diagnosis was respiratory tract infection (29.1%); 11% of patients had a serious or potentially life-threatening diagnosis. The most common group of prescription medications prescribed was antibiotics.
Many different injuries and illnesses occur on board cruise ships. The spectrum is similar in many respects to the patients presenting to emergency departments. Cruise lines must prepare for the initial treatment and stabilization of patients with serious illnesses or injuries with appropriately qualified and equipped medical personnel and establish procedures for disembarkation of patients to facilities capable of handling such conditions.
提供有关邮轮医生所遇到医疗状况的描述性流行病学信息，以用于制定有关邮轮医疗设施和工作人员的指南。
采用回顾性描述性流行病学研究设计，对一家主要邮轮公司的4艘从美国出发的邮轮在一个日历年期间的航程中患者与医生的接触情况进行评估。每趟航程都有这些船上乘客的性别和年龄等人口统计学数据。我们收集了患者年龄、性别、主要症状、诊断、治疗以及患者在船上医疗日志的病历中记录的处置情况等信息。
在196,171名乘客和1,537,298乘客日的人群中发生了7147例新患者就诊；56.7%的乘客为女性，60.7%的患者为女性；43.3%的乘客和39.6%的患者为男性。前往船上医务室就诊的原因如下：18.2%的就诊与受伤有关，69.3%与医疗状况有关，12.5%为未明确说明或其他情况。最常见的诊断是呼吸道感染（29.1%）；11%的患者有严重或潜在危及生命的诊断。最常开具的处方药类别是抗生素。
邮轮上会发生许多不同的受伤和疾病情况。在许多方面，其范围与前往急诊科就诊的患者相似。邮轮公司必须配备具备适当资质和设备的医务人员，为患有严重疾病或受伤的患者进行初始治疗和稳定病情做好准备，并制定将患者转运至能够处理此类情况的医疗机构的程序。
