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Medicine and Health Sciences

Bowling Green State University

Lifeguarding

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Full-Text Articles in Education

Ability Of Lifeguards To Detect Submerged Manikins In Public Swimming Pool Environments, Élie Vignac, Pascal Lebihain, Brice Guignard, Natacha Heutte, Loic Le Minor, Bastien Soulé Mar 2022

Ability Of Lifeguards To Detect Submerged Manikins In Public Swimming Pool Environments, Élie Vignac, Pascal Lebihain, Brice Guignard, Natacha Heutte, Loic Le Minor, Bastien Soulé

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

To prevent drownings in public swimming pools (PSP), French legislation requires constant surveillance by state-certified lifeguards. While previous research showed that surveillance was not always effective, this article focuses on efficiency of surveillance when it is effective. We evaluated the ability of 4 volunteer professional lifeguards to detect a submerged manikin under controlled conditions. One hundred and eight (108) tests were carried out in 2 PSP. Four variables were controlled (i.e., distance, depth, surveillance station, attendance). Our results showed that rapid drowning detection was not exclusively linked to the individual detection capabilities of a lifeguard, but rather it emerged from …


Effective Lifeguard Scanning: A Review, Stephen J. Langendorfer Ph.D., Francesco (Frank) A. Pia Ph.D., Angela K. Beale-Tawfeeq Ph.D. Mar 2022

Effective Lifeguard Scanning: A Review, Stephen J. Langendorfer Ph.D., Francesco (Frank) A. Pia Ph.D., Angela K. Beale-Tawfeeq Ph.D.

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

The purpose of this scientific review was to address the question of what evidence-based visual surveillance/scanning skills exist in the peer-reviewed scholarly literature. It is well known that lifeguards spend a majority of their on-duty time surveying bathers and swimmers in the water. Lifeguards need to quickly distinguish among swimmers in distress and drowning persons from other bathers in order to rapidly come to their aid to prevent drowning. To be able to accomplish this task, Signal Detection Theory reveals that lifeguards need specific and extensive training in identifying the behavioral patterns associated with drowning persons and swimmers in distress. …


Towards A “Rescue Ready” Mindset: Can Lifeguard Teams Learn Lessons From The Attributes Of Chronic Unease?, Billy Rj Doyle, Jonathon Webber Dec 2019

Towards A “Rescue Ready” Mindset: Can Lifeguard Teams Learn Lessons From The Attributes Of Chronic Unease?, Billy Rj Doyle, Jonathon Webber

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

Highly Reliable Organisations (HROs) are safety-centric organisations that operate in complex environments alongside risky technologies and processes. There is a high risk of catastrophe and error in these settings, the consequences of which may result in loss of life, financial cost, and damage to the environment. “Chronic unease” is a concept originally adopted by Royal Dutch Shell describing a mindset that has five predictable attributes that contribute to an individual’s and organisational safety culture. The authors of this paper describe the attributes of chronic unease in the context of lifeguard operations. A case study of a dangerous and dynamic rescue …


An Examination Of The Severity Of Aquatic Incidents, Lyndsey K. Lanagan-Leitzel Feb 2019

An Examination Of The Severity Of Aquatic Incidents, Lyndsey K. Lanagan-Leitzel

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

Lanagan-Leitzel (2012) found that lifeguards do not consistently report incidents when free-viewing aquatic scenes and miss some incidents that should be considered critical. This could have been because they did not know what incidents were critical to monitor or because they were busy monitoring other incidents. In the current study, lifeguards and non-lifeguards were presented with video clips of isolated incidents and rated the severity of each on a scale of 0 – 7. The lifeguards reported greater mean and maximum incident severity than non-lifeguards. Further analyses of lifeguard responses revealed that severity ratings were only moderately correlated to the …


Understanding Contributing Factors To Child Drownings In Public Pools In Australia: A Review Of National Coronial Records, Lauren A. Petrass Dr, Jennifer Blitvich Feb 2017

Understanding Contributing Factors To Child Drownings In Public Pools In Australia: A Review Of National Coronial Records, Lauren A. Petrass Dr, Jennifer Blitvich

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

This study examined the incidence and circumstances associated with child drowning in public pools in Australia; and identified the frequency and nature of coroners’ recommendations. Retrospective case-series analysis of child (aged 0-10 years) unintentional drowning deaths in public pools were conducted based on Coronial data. A total of 12 child drownings were identified. A lack of supervision was recognized as the key contributing factor in 92% of cases, with the caregiver responsible for multiple children (83%); older children supervising younger children (17%); and a busy pool environment (25%) consistently linked with in-adequate supervision. To address drownings in public pools it …


The Need For Advanced Cardiac Life Support Certification For Open-Water Lifeguards At Huntington Beach, Ca, Daniel Jerome, Peter R. Chambers, Steve Reuter, John Porcari Jan 2008

The Need For Advanced Cardiac Life Support Certification For Open-Water Lifeguards At Huntington Beach, Ca, Daniel Jerome, Peter R. Chambers, Steve Reuter, John Porcari

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

The number of people visiting U.S. beaches increased in 2007 to more than 240 million people. This increase in activities does not come without danger. Lifeguards maintain beach safety, but little research is available to assist us in determining appropriate certification levels for lifeguards. The authors analyzed various injuries that occurred in the open-water environment of Huntington Beach, CA. Based on the nature of the injuries, they attempted to determine the level of training lifeguards needed. The vast majority of injuries (99%) were soft-tissue injuries, musculoskeletal injuries, or environmental injuries. It was felt that lifeguards with first-aid and basic-life-support (BLS) …


Handling Immediate Medical Care At Aquatic Facilities: Do We Need Different Levels Of Lifeguard Certification?, Leland Yarger Feb 2007

Handling Immediate Medical Care At Aquatic Facilities: Do We Need Different Levels Of Lifeguard Certification?, Leland Yarger

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

The first-responder and professional-rescuer training materials and training programs consider lifeguards to be first responders in emergencies (Aehlert, 2005; American Red Cross, 2001). This article asks readers to consider whether our agency lifeguard-training programs reflect a philosophy that truly view and prepare lifeguards as first responders. If not, I challenge readers to consider whether we should alter our hiring, staffing, and in-service training procedures at aquatic facilities based on the scope and need for providing adequate emergency care at those facilities.