Providing student health services at sea: a survey of chief complaints onboard a maritime academy training ship.
OBJECTIVE
The authors describe the epidemiology of infirmary chief complaints aboard a collegiate maritime training ship.


METHODS
They assessed patients (N = 646 visits) evaluated by the USTS Enterprise medical department during a 44-day sea term from January to February 2007.


METHODS
The authors conducted a retrospective chart review of infirmary use and extracted information on age, sex, rank, chief complaints, and frequency of visits.


RESULTS
Overall, 646 visits were made. The most common complaints were dermatologic (30.1%): rash, skin infection, laceration, and sunburn. Together, ear, nose, and throat and dermatologic complaints accounted for 57.6% of all visits. Work-related complaints accounted for 12.5% of recorded visits. Compared with the ship population, senior and female cadets had more visits than the average. Port departure days were typically the busiest.


CONCLUSIONS
Among healthy, college-aged cadets at sea, typical primary care constitute comprise the majority of visits.
Kue
Ricky
R
Department of Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 5801 Smith Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21209, USA. rkue1@jhmi.edu
Cukor
Jeffrey
J
Fredrickson
Anne
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009326:Naval Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013333:Student Health Services / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult