Drowning Prevention and Treatment

Drowning remains a global pandemic claiming the lives of at least 1000 people a day (2.5 million in 10 years), and leaving many more with life-long morbidity. Nearly two-thirds of those that die are under 30 years old, with a quarter of these being under 5 years old. This represents over 64 million years of life lost, over 10 years. The majority of drownings are from low-income countries and the drowning threat is set to get worse with climate change and rising sea levels: three quarter of a billion people are currently living below predicted high tide levels.

This free to attend meeting will provide the opportunity to those working in drowning prevention and treatment to present and listen to the most recent advances in the areas of: drowning prevention and education, climate change and drowning, and the medical & physiological aspects of drowning. The meeting will be held over three days from 10:00-14:00 BST to ensure global participation and maximise research dissemination and discussion.

This meeting is hosted in collaboration with the International Drowning Researchers’ Alliance (IDRA)

Registration is now closed.

Professor Mike Tipton

Extreme Environments Laboratory, University of Portsmouth, UK

Dr Paddy Morgan

North Bristol NHS Trust, UK

Dr Jenny Smith

University of Chichester, UK

Adrian Mayhew

Surf Live Saving GB

10:15 World Drowning Prevention Day: How was the Brazilian action impact in 2023?

Dr David Szpilman, SOBRASA, Brasil

10:30 Reflections on how to expand the field and effectiveness of drowning prevention messages

Luis-Miguel Pascual-Gomez, Escuela Segoviana de Socorrismo, Spain

10:45 Local authority approaches to managing water safety: A 10-year comparative analysis (Scotland)

Carlene McAvoy, The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, UK

11:00 Q&A

11:15 The construction of Sobrasa CPR mannequins in public schools - a measure of prevention

Jeferson Luiz França, Military Fire Department, TORRES-RS, Brazil

11:30 Surfers as bystanders rescuers

Professor Joel de Oliveira, Surfing Medicine International, Porto, Portugal

11:45 DROWN-ICU: Evaluating socio-economic impact of drowning in Southwest England. (Pilot project)

Dr Catherine Chatfield-Ball, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust, Exeter, UK

12:00 Q&A

12:30 National drowning prevention platforms: Opportunities and new questions from the WAID2 system

David Walker, The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, UK

12:45 Climate change and drowning 1

Professor Joost Bierens, Extreme Environments Laboratory, University of Portsmouth, UK

13:00 Climate change and drowning 2

Dr Justin Sempsrott, Lifeguards Without Borders, US

13:15 Cardiac arrest registry studies may under-state impact of bystander CPR in drowning

Dr Ogilvie Thom, James Cook University, Australia

13:30 Normal respiratory exam in drowning at emergency department presentation allows rapid discharge from the ED

Dr Ogilvie Thom, James Cook University, Australia

13:45 Using geospatial methods to identify clusters of drownings: Towards identifying environmental risk factors in UK drownings to inform prevention

Dr Martin Barwood, Leeds Trinity University, UK

14:00 Q&A

10:15 “Floating point”: A new method to establish the motionless airway freeboard of humans in water to advise on drowning risk and self-rescue actions

Thomas Wild, Leeds Trinity University, UK

10:30 SLSGB response to COVID 2020

Adey Mayhew, Surf Life Saving GB, UK

10:45 Transferring fatigue detection technology from buses to lifeguarding: Lessons learned from trials in the bus industry

Dr Victoria Laxton, Transport Research Laboratory, UK

11:00 Evolution of a submersion decision making tool

Nick Spence, National Ambulance Resilience Unit, UK

11:15 KICK UP, STAY UP, BREATHE, FOCUS: An up-to-date rescue tool for first responders conducting rescues in cold water

Leo Datnow, Royal London Hospital, UK

11:30 Death around the time of rescue: Is drowning involved?

Professor Mike Tipton, Extreme Environments Laboratory, University of Portsmouth, UK

11:45 Q&A

12:30 River safety for First Nation's Australians

Stephen Waterman, Royal Life Saving Society Western Australia, Australia

12:45 A strategy to reduce drowning in flood disasters

Dr Shayne Baker, International Life Saving Federation, Belgium

13:00 Characteristics and critical care interventions of drowning patients treated by the Danish Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) from 2016-2021: A population-based cohort study with 30-day follow-up

Dr Niklas Breindahl, Prehospital Center Region Zealand, Denmark

13:15 Lifeguard drowning detection training

Dr Benjamin Sharpe, University of Chichester, UK

13:30 The Drowning and Incident Review (Scotland): Initial insights

Carlene McAvoy, The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, UK and James Sullivan, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, UK

13:45 Q&A

10:15 The utility of point of care ultrasound in drowning resuscitation

Dr Dion van de Schoot, Te Whatu Ora Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand and Surfing Medicine International, The Hague, The Netherlands

10:30 Use of AEDs in military and occupational diving

Dominic Bown, Institute of Naval Medicine, Royal Navy, UK

10:45 Q&A

11:00 Management of in-water traumatic spinal cord injury: An international practical consensus-based guideline

Dr Niklas Breindahl, Prehospital Center Region Zealand, Denmark

11:15 Development of an evidence-based swimming representative military task to assess swimming competency in the British Army

Professor Sam Blacker, University of Chichester, UK

11:30 Improving floating competency of inexperienced water users in open sea and fresh water

Dr Clare Eglin, Extreme Environments Laboratory, University of Portsmouth, UK

11:45 Physical literacy as an emergent concept in drowning prevention and aquatic education: Developing a school-based program design in Portugal (“AquaPhyLit”)

Dora Carolo, University of Lisbon, Portugal

12:00 A simple explanation for unexpected drowning of otherwise healthy humans during recreational swimming

Dr Michael Parkes, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

12:15 Q&A

12:45 Drowning resuscitation: Special considerations for prehospital management

Leonardo Manino, EPSA, Argentina, International Life Saving Federation Medical Committee, IDRA and Prehospital Medicine Argentinean Society (SAMPRE), Argentina

13:00 Theme study on accidental drownings in Finland in 2021

Kai Valonen, Safety Investigation Authority Finland, Finland

13:15 Evaluation of online information on the cold shock response to accidental immersion in cold water