A 17-year-old man attends your ED having taken an unconventional shortcut on his way home. Check out this SAQ on Drowning.
A 17-year-old man attends your ED having taken an unconventional shortcut on his way home. Check out this SAQ on Drowning.
You move to your second base as some divers have surfaced and are getting ready to pack up. You notice one of them is swaying left and right and stops due to complaints of pain in his back. He has started to feel out of breath.
Big city medicine can sometimes be tricky to tick the box that says “Environmental Emergencies” in the RCEM curriculum. But a day in the life of a doctor living in more “outdoor” or seaside settings can help you get the mindset that is needed for these sort of pre-hospital jobs.
The usual response to submersion is a voluntary breath hold, to prevent aspiration of water.