What the Novel Drowning Data Elements in CARES Can Teach Us

Summary: This presentation will look at the first two years of collecting the eight novel drowning elements in the CARES database and provide a snapshot of factors related to those in cardiac arrest from drowning nationwide in the U.S.

Synopsis: Two years ago, CARES Advisory Council in collaboration with the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council incorporated eight novel drowning elements to its data collection:

• Submersion witnessed by
• Who extracted/removed
• Body of water
• Estimated submersion duration
• Estimated water temperature
• Lifeguard CPR performed
• Activity at time of submersion
• Precipitating event.

The collection of the eight novel drowning elements by CARES answers the call to action from the U.N. regarding the importance of improving drowning outcomes and national data collection regarding drowning. The novel elements offer greater visibility regarding events and factors related to those in cardiac arrest from drowning in the U.S. and the potential to further examine factors associated with patient outcomes.

This presentation will look at the first two years of collecting the eight novel drowning elements and provide a snapshot of factors related to those in cardiac arrest from drowning nationwide in the U.S. The first two years of data collection continue to show the importance of bystander CPR on improved patient outcomes. Additionally, the presentation will review the challenges with certain data elements requested that have larger “incomplete” or “unknown” numbers and increase awareness of the importance of documenting these factors.

However, certain fields had higher rates of “unknown” or “missing” recorded. Specifically, the fields “activity of time of submersion” and “precipitating event” had higher rates of unknown entries, limiting our knowledge regarding drowning and these factors. Drawing attention to the importance of including these factors will further help improve mitigation strategies nationwide.