Module
The Drowning Process
Definition and Causes
- Drowning is defined as experiencing respiratory impairment.
- The primary cause of drowning is inability to swim or poor swimming skills.
- A person can drown in a shallow pond or small stream if they suddenly lose consciousness and their nose and mouth are beneath the water surface.
Stages of Drowning
- The correct sequence of drowning stages is: exhaustion, panic-agony, immobility, death.
- In the panic-agony phase, consciousness is disturbed and the drowning person exhibits irrational behavior.
- The phase of panic-agony leads to unconsciousness.
- The drowning person poses the biggest threat to a rescuer during the phase of panic-agony.
- In the phase of immobility the person is unconscious and no longer a direct threat to the rescuer.
Physiology and Types
- Hypoxia is a lack of oxygen in bodily tissue.
- Wet drowning is the phenomenon when water is inhaled through the bronchial tract into the lungs.
- Dry drowning is the condition when no water is found in the lungs of the drowned person.
- The cause of dry drowning is the epiglottal reflex (which seals the airway before water enters the lungs).
- Metabolic acidosis is the acidification of blood.
- Drowning in cold water may cause severe cardiac arrhythmia.
Resuscitation and First Aid
- The probability of successful resuscitation after one minute is 90%.
- The probability of successful resuscitation after five minutes is 25%.
- Rescue from water and resuscitation are reasonable even after more than 12 minutes.
- First-aid measures and basic resuscitation procedures are the same regardless of whether drowning occurs in salt or freshwater.