emDocs - January 13, 2021 - By Morgan McCarthy and Emilie Powell
Reviewed by: Edward Lew; Alex Koyfman and Brit Long
"Clinical Pearls:
- Resuscitation focus should be on ventilation due to loss of surfactant.
- Hypothermia can be neuroprotective: hours of resuscitation may still lead to complete recovery.
- Antibiotics should only be given if water was grossly contaminated, glucocorticoids are not recommended, and there is no strong data on the use of surfactant.
- Symptomatic patients, those with shortness of breath, chest pain, cough, nausea or vomiting, should be monitored in the ED for a minimum for 6 hours and should be counseled on prevention and risk factors for drowning."