Bystander basic life support: an important link in the chain of survival for children suffering a drowning or near-drowning episode.
Eight children suffered drowning or near-drowning in Sydney pools over an 11-day period in January 2007. Four received basic life support (BLS) within 5 minutes of immersion and survived with good functional neurological outcomes. The other four were not discovered for >or= 5 minutes and all died. This cluster serves as a reminder that timely effective bystander BLS is crucial to survival and good clinical outcomes in near-drowning episodes.
Marchant
Jeanette
J
Department of Emergency Medicine, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Cheng
Nicholas G
NG
Lam
Lawrence T
LT
Fahy
Fiona E
FE
Soundappan
S V
SV
Sounndapound
S V
SV
Cass
Danny T
DT
Browne
Gary J
GJ
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004332:Drowning / Q000401:mortality; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008021:Life Support Systems / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008297:Male; D015701:Near Drowning / Q000628:therapy*; D009517:New South Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D012151:Resuscitation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends; D013551:Swimming Pools; D013997:Time Factors