PREVENTION OF PEDIATRIC DROWNING AND NEAR-DROWNING - A SURVEY OF MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN-ACADEMY-OF-PEDIATRICS

Objective. To assess pediatricians' knowledge about the epidemiology o f childhood drowning, their opinions and current practices regarding i ts prevention, and their interest in taking on more responsibility for its prevention. Design. A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to 800 pediatricians in the United States, randomly selected from the American Academy of Pediatrics' approximately 18 000 full fellows. Res ults. A total of 560 completed surveys were returned, a response rate of 70.1%. Although 85% of respondents believe it is the responsibility of pediatricians to become involved in community and/or legislative e fforts to prevent childhood drowning, only 4.1% were involved in such efforts. Only a minority of respondents provided written materials and anticipatory guidance on drowning prevention to their patients. Women were more likely than men to discuss drowning prevention with their p atients. Younger physicians were more likely than older physicians to discuss drowning prevention with their patients. Physicians who receiv ed formal education on drowning prevention during their pediatric resi dency training were more likely to provide written materials and antic ipatory guidance on drowning prevention to their patients. However, on ly 17.9% of respondents received formal education on drowning preventi on during their pediatric residency training. Seventy-four percent of all respondents felt that further education on the prevention of child hood drowning and near-drowning would be useful to them. Conclusion. A lthough drowning is the second leading cause of death by unintentional injury in the pediatric population (aged 0 to 19 years), most pediatr icians do not routinely provide information to their patients, or to t heir patients' parents, on drowning prevention. Implication. Pediatric ians have been effective child advocates in many areas of injury preve ntion. If the prevention of drowning is made a priority in pediatric p ractice, many more children's lives will be saved.