Unconscious Person
Characteristics
- generally floating face down on the surface for a time before submerging and inverting to face up
Resuce Implications
- obtaining an open airway and recommencing breathing are first priority with consideration for the need to land - the person to perform CPR
- potential of spinal injury is a secondary consid-eration to this,
Likely Response from patient
- no response
- limp in the water
If all outside factors are equal, the question then arises – Whom to rescue first?
In land-based triage, it is usually recommended that the rescuer goes to the unconscious first and maintains airway, breathing and circulation but in an aquatic situation to do this would be at the detriment of some such as non-swimmers who will survive if rescued quickly or may drown if a response is delayed. Once a rescuer begins CPR they are acting as a manual life support system and should not stop