Rip current knowledge: do people really know its danger? do lifeguards know more than the general public?

Introduction: Drowning is a global problem. This so-called "silent killer" claims hundreds of thousands of lives every year around the world. Despite this, beaches are a fundamental space in the lives of many people throughout the world. The scant knowledge regarding aspects of safety, accident prevention and the identification of risks in these natural aquatic environments, all contribute to the number of aquatic accidents that happen. The objective of this study was to establish the reality about the Spain population's knowledge of risks on the beaches. Methods: A study was carried out using a questionnaire, generated through Google Forms©. The questionnaire was available for 7 days, from May 12 to 19, 2022. 289 responses were selected. The Chi-square statistic was used to analyze the associations while Cramér's V statistics and the Odds Ratio were applied to analyze their strength. The significance level was p < 0.05 for the entire study. Results: 50.5% of the participants knew how to correctly identify a rip current. In terms of definition, identification and response to a current, those who were lifeguards were more likely than the general population to answer correctly. Conclusions: Sex, age or place of residence do not seem to explain knowledge about rip currents in an active population group. Finally, as a factor in avoiding possible accidents related to currents, the importance of having professional lifeguards in natural aquatic environments is confirmed.

Relationship between the Performance in a Maximum Effort Test for Lifeguards and the Time Spent in a Water Rescue.

The main objective of this study was to analyse the relationship between the performance in a maximum incremental test for lifeguards, the IPTL, and the effectiveness of a 200 m water rescue on the beach. Initially, 20 professional lifeguards carried out the IPTL in the pool and then they performed a 200 m water rescue on the beach. The maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) in the IPTL was estimated. In both tests, heart rate (HR), blood lactate (La) and time achieved were measured. The VO2max estimated in the IPTL (VO2IPTL) was 44.2 ± 4.7 mL·kg·min-1, the time reached in the IPTL (TimeIPTL) was 726 ± 72 s and the time spent in the rescue (TimeRescue) was 222 ± 14 s. The results showed that the time reached in the pool (TimeIPTL) was the best predictor variable of the performance in water rescue (TimeRescue) (R2 = 0.59; p < 0.01). A significant correlation was also observed between the estimated maximum oxygen uptake and the beach rescue performance (R2 = 0.37; p = 0.05). These results reveal that the IPTL, a maximum incremental test specific to lifeguards, allows the estimation of the effectiveness of a 200 m rescue on the beach.

Los primeros auxilios en el currículo de la educación obligatoria en España / First aid in the curriculum of compulsory education in Spain

La formación en primeros auxilios es fundamental para poder intervenir en un primer momento en situaciones de emergencia y es por ello que numerosas instituciones han señalado a la educación obligatoria como una de las claves para llevar a cabo dicha formación. En esta investigación se ha analizado la evolución de la presencia de los primeros auxilios en la legislación educativa en España, que han ido perdiendo peso en el currículo educativo desde la LGE, en 1970, hasta la LOE, en 2006, especialmente en el bachillerato y han recuperado su importancia desde ese año hasta la actual LOMCE, de 2013, donde se incluyen estos contenidos en la educación primaria y la educación secundaria obligatoria. Aunque los contenidos se incluyen principalmente en la asignatura de educación física, actualmente se dividen en varias asignaturas del currículo. La evidencia científica actual nos dice que, aunque estos contenidos están presentes en el currículo, no se suelen aplicar por falta de material y también en la formación en el profesorado para impartirlos, sin embargo, ciertas comunidades autónomas aportan material y formación para que puedan ser los propios docentes los que impartan las maniobras de primeros auxilios en las escuelas. Por todo esto, creemos que los primeros auxilios deben ser un contenido obligatorio y relevante en las escuelas y que deben ser los docentes, formados previamente, los que impartan dichos contenidos

Learning first aid is essential to be able to act in an emergency situation and that is why many institutions have pointed at compulsory education as one of the keys to carry out such learning. The evolution of the presence of first aid in educational legislation in Spain has been analyzed in this research. These contents have been losing weight in the educational curriculum from the LGE, in 1970 to the LOE, in 2006, especially in the baccalaureate and have increased its importance since that year until the current LOMCE, 2013, which includes these contents in primary education and compulsory secondary education. Although the contents are mainly included in the subject of physical education, they are currently divided into several subjects of the curriculum. The current scientific evidence tells us that, although these contents are present in the curriculum, they are not usually taught due to the lack of material and training for teachers to teach them. However, certain autonomous communities provide material and training, so that the teachers can teach by themselves the first aid techniques in schools. For all this, we believe that first aid must be a compulsory and relevant content in schools, and teachers, trained in advance, must teach these contents