Drowning

Drowning is responsible for significant preventable morbidity and mortality worldwide causing more deaths than war. Over the past 10 years our understanding of the causative factors, pathophysiology, management, outcomes, and even the terminology used has changed. Aggressive pulmonary support has pr...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: David B. Richards
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2011-03-01
Series:African Journal of Emergency Medicine
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211419X1100005X
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author David B. Richards
author_facet David B. Richards
author_sort David B. Richards
collection DOAJ
description Drowning is responsible for significant preventable morbidity and mortality worldwide causing more deaths than war. Over the past 10 years our understanding of the causative factors, pathophysiology, management, outcomes, and even the terminology used has changed. Aggressive pulmonary support has proven to be essential to optimizing the victim’s chances for a favorable outcome. Hypoventilation, steroids, dehydration, barbiturate coma, and neuromuscular blockade have not been shown to affect outcomes as previously thought. Further, no prognostic scale or clinical presentation has been found which accurately predicts long-term neurologic outcome. Simple preventative measures and educational efforts can be effective in preventing a major cause of morbidity and mortality in often young and healthy members of society.
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spelling doaj.art-915f1c08045d4703adc8f7c2fbeea9b92022-12-21T18:54:46ZengElsevierAfrican Journal of Emergency Medicine2211-419X2011-03-0111333810.1016/j.afjem.2011.05.001DrowningDavid B. RichardsDrowning is responsible for significant preventable morbidity and mortality worldwide causing more deaths than war. Over the past 10 years our understanding of the causative factors, pathophysiology, management, outcomes, and even the terminology used has changed. Aggressive pulmonary support has proven to be essential to optimizing the victim’s chances for a favorable outcome. Hypoventilation, steroids, dehydration, barbiturate coma, and neuromuscular blockade have not been shown to affect outcomes as previously thought. Further, no prognostic scale or clinical presentation has been found which accurately predicts long-term neurologic outcome. Simple preventative measures and educational efforts can be effective in preventing a major cause of morbidity and mortality in often young and healthy members of society.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211419X1100005XDrowning
spellingShingle David B. Richards
Drowning
African Journal of Emergency Medicine
Drowning
title Drowning
title_full Drowning
title_fullStr Drowning
title_full_unstemmed Drowning
title_short Drowning
title_sort drowning
topic Drowning
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211419X1100005X
work_keys_str_mv AT davidbrichards drowning