Peak Vacation Season Ups the Risk for Drowning. Are You Prepared to Help the Victims?

With schools out and temperatures peaking all over the country, many families are heading to the beach and diving into the pool for relief from the heat. More frequent exposure to water means greater risk for drowning, however, especially for young and inexperienced swimmers. JAMA Pediatrics just published a safety guide to help parents understand where the greatest risks lie—and how to avoid them—on its patient page. It offers good common-sense advice for parents, such as never letting very young children stray beyond an arm’s length from a good swimmer, but it’s likely urgent care providers could use a refresher on how to respond to drowning victims. A great place to start would be an article JUCM published not so long ago. Evaluation of Nonfatal Drowning in Urgent Care is available in our archive right now (and you can still receive CME credits for reading that and other content from the same issue through August 31 of this year).