NEWS RELEASE: IT’S A DROWNING (NOT DRY, NEAR, SECONDARY OR DELAYED) DPCA to address Drowning Terminology Misnomers

CONTACT:

Lori Schmidt, DPCA Immediate Past President, Mobile 480-272-1710, lschmidt@scottsdaleaz.gov

IT’S A DROWNING (Not Dry, near, secondary or delayed)

DPCA to address Drowning Terminology Misnomers

Before 2002, there were 33 different published definitions of drowning and near drowning. Some of these definitions and terms were confusing and made tracking of drowning patients very difficult.

For example, if someone was rescued from the water and taken to the hospital as a “near drowning” and they died a few days later as a result of complications, cause of death may be listed as “respiratory failure” and not as drowning. From a medical and public health standpoint, the initial event that caused death was drowning, but the fatality was never listed as being caused by drowning.

At Thursday’s Drowning Prevention Coalition of Arizona general meeting, Dr. Andrew Schmidt from Lifeguards Without Borders, will discuss the misnomers and attempt to get the water safety community to use appropriate terminology when reporting drowning information.

“Unfortunately, these terms still slip past the editors of major medical journals, allowing their use to be perpetuated,” says Dr. Schmidt. “These terms are most pervasive in the nonmedical press and social media, where the term drowning seems to be synonymous with death. We must find a better way to educate the public on how to discuss drowning as a process, with a spectrum ranging from mild to moderate to severe with fatal or nonfatal outcomes.”

WHEN: Thursday, May 10, 2018 – 1:30-3 pm

WHERE: Rio Vista Recreation Center, 8866 W. Thunderbird Rd., Peoria, Ariz.

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Dr. Schmidt is an assistant professor with the University of Florida-Jacksonville Department of Emergency Medicine, where he also serves as deputy medical director for the TraumaOne Flight Program. His specific areas of research and teaching are drowning resuscitation and prehospital medicine. Other positions held include the medical director for Jacksonville Beach Ocean Rescue and a director of Lifeguards Without Borders.

The Drowning Prevention Coalition, a community based organization comprised of parents, health and safety professionals and business leaders, exists to provide a forum to prevent drowning and near drowning through the promotion of education, legislative action and enhanced product safety. Check out our website at www.preventdrownings.org for more information.

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