Event Emergency Preparedness for Exertional Heat Stroke: Lessons from the Olympic and Paralympic Games
Abstract:
Exertional heat stroke is one of the leading causes of sudden death in sports. Its treatment (i.e.., whole-body cold-water immersion [CWI]) is shown to be effective in saving lives of athletes when performed immediately to reduce the duration of extreme hyperthermia (internal body temperature >40.5C) within 30 minutes. However, despite the strong evidence that supports the use of CWI, there remains events that do not use CWI and rectal temperature assessment as part of the policy and procedures for event medical services. The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games was the first summer Olympic Games to formally create and implement policy and procedures for exertional heat stroke prehospital management. It also became one of the first even to create guidelines for para-athletes. Therefore, this presentation aims to provide step-by-step description of the development and implementation of evidence-based exertional heat stroke prehospital management in sporting events using the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games as an example.
Learning Objectives:
- Develop policy and procedures for exertional heat stroke prehospital management designed for mass participation events.
- Design heat deck at mass participation events.
- Understand special considerations required to set up heat deck in para-athlete sports with high risk of exertional heat stroke.
- Design and lead pre-event training sessions on exertional heat stroke prehospital management for medical volunteers.
Level:
Advanced
Domain(s):
Domain 3: Critical Incident Management
CEUs:
1.0 Category A
Keywords: exertional heat stroke, international competition, prehospital management, para-athletes, extreme heat
In order to earn your CEUs, you must watch the session video in its entirety and complete the assessment.
Yuri Hosokawa, PhD, ATC, FACSM
Waseda University, Japan
Yuri Hosokawa is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Japan. Her research interests include prevention and education of sudden death in sport, establishing best practices in road race medicine, developing regional-specific heat guidelines for exertional heat illness prevention, and developing heat acclimatization guidelines for tactical athletes. She is also partaking in research projects in biometeorology to promote interdisciplinary research across physiologists, climatologists, and public health researchers.
Dr. Hosokawa served as a member of the International Olympic Committee Adverse Weather Impact Expert Working Group for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and led the effort to implement best practices for prehospital care of exertional heat stroke in Japan. She established and coordinated prehospital exertional heat stroke management plans for seventeen disciplines during the Olympics and five disciplines during the Paralympics that were deemed high risk for exertional heat stroke. Tokyo Games marked Japan’s first mass-sporting event to implement evidence-based exertional heat stroke prehospital care. Hosokawa’s effort set the standard for future athlete medical service and showcased the expertise of athletic trainers in Japan.
Dr. Hosokawa currently serves as a heat advisor for the Japan Coast Guard, Fifth Regional Coast Guard, to optimize the resilience of the special rescue team. She is also a member of the Expert and Advisory Board of the World Athletics’ World Academy for Endurance Medicine and the World Lacrosse Medical Commission.
Dr. Hosokawa received her bachelor’s degree in Sport Sciences from Waseda University in 2011, her master’s degree in Athletic Training from the University of Arkansas in 2013, and her doctoral degree from the University of Connecticut in 2016. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Korey Stringer Institute (2016–2017) and worked at the Ritsumeikan University as an Assistant Professor in the College of Health and Sport Science (2018–2019).