EM Ottawa - By James Gilbertson, Amanda Mattice - April 27, 2023
Summary
Briefly, the take-home points for Part 1 are as follows:
- Drowning as defined by the WHO in 2004 is the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion or immersion in liquid.
- Avoid outdated and irrelevant drowning terms such as secondary, near, dry, wet, freshwater and saltwater drowning.
- The pathophysiology involves washout of pulmonary surfactant, alveolitis, non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema, and hypoxia contributing to bradycardia into PEA arrest.
- In the pre-hospital setting: Ventilate (2-5 breaths) before compressions
- Call for an AED early but know that shockable rhythms are uncommon (2-14%)
- Consider PEEP and recruitment maneuvers for difficulty oxygenating