Wilderness Medical Society Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Treatment and Prevention of Drowning: 2024 Update.

The Wilderness Medical Society convened a panel to review available evidence supporting practices for acute management of drowning in out-of-hospital and emergency care settings. Literature about definitions and terminology, epidemiology, rescue, resuscitation, acute clinical management, disposition, and drowning prevention was reviewed. The panel graded available evidence supporting practices according to the American College of Chest Physicians criteria and then made recommendations based on that evidence. Recommendations were based on the panel's collective clinical experience and judgment when published evidence was lacking. This is the second update to the original practice guidelines published in 2016 and updated in 2019.

Wilderness medical society clinical practice Guidelines for the treatment and prevention of drowning: 2019 update

Approximately 360,000 deaths globally are attributed to drowning every year. Drowning often affects young victims and can have dire personal, emotional, and financial consequences for patients, families, and society. The goal of these practice guidelines is to reduce the burden of drowning through improvements in treatment and prevention. We present accepted drowning terminology as part of a review and evaluation of literature regarding acute care for the drowning patient, in both out-of-hospital and emergency medical care settings, with particular focus on the wilderness context. The authors relied upon the experience and knowledge of a panel of wilderness and emergency medicine practitioners to make recommendations where little or unreliable evidence is available. This is the first update of the original publication from 2016.

Wilderness Medical Society Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Treatment and Prevention of Drowning: 2019 Update.

The Wilderness Medical Society convened a panel to review available evidence supporting practices for acute management and treatment of drowning in out-of-hospital and emergency medical care settings. Literature about definitions and terminology, epidemiology, rescue, resuscitation, acute clinical management, disposition, and drowning prevention was reviewed. The panel graded available evidence supporting practices according to the American College of Chest Physicians criteria and then made recommendations based on that evidence. Recommendations were based on the panel's collective clinical experience and judgment when published evidence was lacking. This is the first update to the original practice guidelines published in 2016.

Comment on Cerland, L. et al. Incidence and Consequences of Near-Drowning-Related Pneumonia-A Descriptive Series from Martinique, French West Indies. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 1402.

We read with great interest the recent paper by Cerland et al. on the frequency, nature, and consequences of post-drowning pneumonia[...].

The use of non-uniform drowning terminology: a follow-up study.

BACKGROUND: In 2002, the World Congress on Drowning developed a uniform definition for drowning. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of "non-uniform drowning terminology" (NUDT) and "non-uniform drowning definitions" (NUDD) in peer-reviewed scientific literature from 2010 to 2016, and compare these findings with those from our unpublished study performing a similar analysis on literature from 2003 to 2010. METHODS: A systematic review was performed using drowning-specific search terms in Pubmed and Web of Science. Titles and abstracts published between July 2010 and January 2016 were screened for relevance to the study focus. Articles meeting screening criteria were reviewed for exclusion criteria to produce the final group of studies. These articles were reviewed by four reviewers for NUDT and NUDD. The Fisher exact test was used to determine any statistically significant changes. RESULTS: The final group of studies included 167 articles. A total of 53 articles (32%) utilized NUDT, with 100% of these including the term "near drowning". The proportion of articles utilizing NUDT was significantly less than reported by our previous study (p < 0.05). In addition, 32% of the articles included a definition for drowning (uniform or non-uniform), with 15% of these utilizing NUDD. DISCUSSION: Our study reveals a statistically significant improvement over the past thirteen years in the use of uniform drowning terminology in peer-reviewed scientific literature, although year-to-year variability over the current study period does not yield an obvious trend. CONCLUSIONS: Of the articles reviewed during the 2010-2016 study period, 32% included outdated and non-uniform drowning terminology and definitions. While this reveals an absolute decrease of 11% as compared with the previous study period (2003-2010), there is still significant room for improvement.

Wilderness Medical Society Practice Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Drowning.

The Wilderness Medical Society convened a panel to review available evidence supporting practices for the prevention and acute management of drowning in out-of-hospital and emergency medical care settings. Literature about definition and terminology, epidemiology, rescue, resuscitation, acute clinical management, disposition, and drowning prevention was reviewed. The panel graded evidence supporting practices according to the American College of Chest Physicians criteria, then made recommendations based on that evidence. Recommendations were based on the panel's collective clinical experience and judgment when published evidence was lacking.