Disaster preparedness and trauma first aid at the 2025 Boston marathon

Purpose There are currently no standardized medical protocols for mass gathering events. This study sought to close that gap by creating a disaster preparedness program for the Boston Marathon, including bleeding control training and bleeding control kits for all medical tents. Design/methodology/approach All medical volunteers at the Boston Marathon are encouraged to complete online training prior to the race. Medical volunteers for the 2025 Boston Marathon completed a pre- and post-video trauma first aid training knowledge test. Medical volunteers were also graded on two simulation scenarios. Descriptive statistics, the Wilcoxon signed rank and McNemar's tests were performed. Findings Of the 1800 medical volunteers, 879 chose to complete the DLP training. Of those, 56 (6.4%) participated in the video-training study, but only 32 completed both the pre- and post-video surveys. After watching the video, overall knowledge scores increased from 8 (IQR 6, 9) to 10 (IQR 9, 10) (p-value <0.001). Of the 23 who participated in the simulation, 11 (48%) had completed the DLP trauma training video. Those who watched the training video scored better on the tourniquet (p = 0.035) and direct pressure simulation (p = 0.18). Originality/value Implementation of trauma first aid training and bleeding control kits to events such as the Boston Marathon is not only feasible but also increases the disaster preparedness confidence and knowledge of medical volunteers. This type of disaster preparedness in event medicine is crucial in mitigating future terrorist attacks at mass gatherings.