Authors: Abelairas-Gómez C, et al.
Journal: Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, July 2016 (online)
This article doesn't necessarily provide any groundbreaking discoveries, but I thought it is worth sharing if anyone needs evidence concerning the benefit of using fins in water rescue. In this article, the authors describe the performance of 20 lifeguards during 3 different rescue scenarios: baseline CPR, water rescue without equipment + CPR, water rescue with fins and tube + CPR.
To determine effect of tube and fins, study looked at the following:
- CPR quality
- Time to rescue
- Distance covered (trajectory to patient based on GPS)
- Physiologic parameters (blood lactate and heart rate)
Bottom Line
- The use of fins and tube reduced the time for rescue and distance covered
- No effect on quality of CPR
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