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Emergencies and resuscitation

How to treat a drowning victim

Other platforms explain it with text and video. In Making Synapses you practice it on the patient.

MD / DOPANursing (NCLEX)EMS (NREMT)
Practice it in VR with Blocky

In drowning, the problem is lack of oxygen. Breaths come early.

Step by step

  1. Safe rescue

    Reach or throw, do not go in unless trained. [1]

  2. Out of the water

    Keep horizontal if possible. [1]

  3. Breathing

    If not breathing normally, open the airway and give rescue breaths, then CPR. [1]

  4. Spine

    Only if there are signs of trauma (diving, fall). [1]

  5. Warm

    Remove wet clothes, cover. [1]

  6. Transport

    Every drowning patient needs medical evaluation. [1]

Common errors

Practice it in Making Synapses

In Making Synapses you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.

Making Synapses cases that train this skill

Sources

  1. AHA Guidelines for CPR and ECC
  2. NASEMSO National Model EMS Clinical Guidelines
  3. NREMT psychomotor skill sheets (EMT and Paramedic)

Facts and steps follow NASEMSO National Model EMS Clinical Guidelines; NREMT psychomotor skill sheets (EMT and Paramedic). Making Synapses is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.