Trauma Week Day Three!

On December 8, 2021, Dr. Cassie Woodward a Physicians Assistant came and lectured our class about submersion injury. She told us that children and at home pools are at most risk for drowning. Not a lot of liquid need to be present in order for someone to drown. Some risk factors are inability to swim, use of alcohol, and inadequate adult supervision. The two organs that are mostly damaged are your lungs and brain. Brain injuries are the most difficult to fully recover from. Some management choices are inpatient care and acute interventions. Ventilation is the most important initiation, but if the patient endures an injury in their cervical cord, it can be more difficult to ventilate them. It is important that if someone is drowning time is of the essence and less than 5 minutes of submission is a lot easier to recover than someone who takes at least 25 minutes to get resuscitated!