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Pediatric near-drowning events: do they warrant trauma team activation?
journal of surgical research september 2017 (217) 246
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.JournalofSurgicalResearch.com
Letter to the Editor
Pediatric near-drowning events: do they warrant trauma team activation? We would like to thank Webber et al. for their Letter to the Editor, discussing the use of the term “near-drowning” in response to our recent publication.1 We appreciate their time to read and provide comments and welcome their agreement on the gist of the study that routine activation of trauma teams in pediatric drowning cases may be unwarranted. We agree that the use of terminology for reporting of medical data and literature should be uniform and, in this case, the definition for drowning provided by World Congress on Drowning: “The process of experiencing respiratory impairment due to submersion or immersion in liquid” should be used uniformly.2 Our intention in the study was to be inclusive of all possible drowning and “near-drowning” events so that we could capture enough data to make an accurate assessment of the impact of trauma team activation. In hindsight, we should have put the term “near-drowning” in quotation marks so as to signify its use as a nonstandard term. We took care to comply with the WHO recommendation of not using the terms “wet, dry, active, passive, silent, and secondary” drowning.2 Similarly, our use of “near-drowning” does not include outcome, which is compatible with the WHO recommendation.2 We agree that the use of nonstandard terminology in drowning-related publications is not uncommon and thank the authors for using this opportunity to create better understanding of the World Congress definition for drowning.
Disclosure The authors reported no proprietary or commercial interest in any product mentioned or concept discussed in this article.
references
1. Chotai PN, Manning L, Eithun B, et al. Pediatric near-drowning events: do they warrant trauma team activation? J Surg Res. 2017;212:108e113. 2. Van Beeck EF, Branche CM, Szpilman D, et al. A new definition of drowning: towards documentation and prevention of a
DOI of original article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2017.06.007
global public health problem. Bull World Health Organ. 2005;83: 853e856.
Pranit N. Chotai, MD Lisa Manning, BSN, RN, MS, CCRP Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee Benjamin Eithun, MSN, CRNP, RN, CPNP-AC, CCRN Pediatric Trauma Program, American Family Children’s Hospital, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin Joshua C. Ross, MD Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin James W. Eubanks III, MD Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee Chad Hamner, MD Division of Trauma Surgery, Cook Children’s Medical Center, Fort Worth, Texas Ankush Gosain, MD, PhD* Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee Children’s Foundation Research Institute, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee *Corresponding author. Division of Pediatric Surgery, University-Le Bonheur Pediatric Specialists, 49 N Dunlap Street, 266 Faculty Office Building, Memphis, TN 38105. Tel.: þ1 901 297 6031; fax: þ1 901 287 4434. E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Gosain) 0022-4804/$ e see front matter ª 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2017.06.015
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.JournalofSurgicalResearch.com
Letter to the Editor
Pediatric near-drowning events: do they warrant trauma team activation? We would like to thank Webber et al. for their Letter to the Editor, discussing the use of the term “near-drowning” in response to our recent publication.1 We appreciate their time to read and provide comments and welcome their agreement on the gist of the study that routine activation of trauma teams in pediatric drowning cases may be unwarranted. We agree that the use of terminology for reporting of medical data and literature should be uniform and, in this case, the definition for drowning provided by World Congress on Drowning: “The process of experiencing respiratory impairment due to submersion or immersion in liquid” should be used uniformly.2 Our intention in the study was to be inclusive of all possible drowning and “near-drowning” events so that we could capture enough data to make an accurate assessment of the impact of trauma team activation. In hindsight, we should have put the term “near-drowning” in quotation marks so as to signify its use as a nonstandard term. We took care to comply with the WHO recommendation of not using the terms “wet, dry, active, passive, silent, and secondary” drowning.2 Similarly, our use of “near-drowning” does not include outcome, which is compatible with the WHO recommendation.2 We agree that the use of nonstandard terminology in drowning-related publications is not uncommon and thank the authors for using this opportunity to create better understanding of the World Congress definition for drowning.
Disclosure The authors reported no proprietary or commercial interest in any product mentioned or concept discussed in this article.
references
1. Chotai PN, Manning L, Eithun B, et al. Pediatric near-drowning events: do they warrant trauma team activation? J Surg Res. 2017;212:108e113. 2. Van Beeck EF, Branche CM, Szpilman D, et al. A new definition of drowning: towards documentation and prevention of a
DOI of original article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2017.06.007
global public health problem. Bull World Health Organ. 2005;83: 853e856.
Pranit N. Chotai, MD Lisa Manning, BSN, RN, MS, CCRP Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee Benjamin Eithun, MSN, CRNP, RN, CPNP-AC, CCRN Pediatric Trauma Program, American Family Children’s Hospital, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin Joshua C. Ross, MD Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin James W. Eubanks III, MD Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee Chad Hamner, MD Division of Trauma Surgery, Cook Children’s Medical Center, Fort Worth, Texas Ankush Gosain, MD, PhD* Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee Children’s Foundation Research Institute, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee *Corresponding author. Division of Pediatric Surgery, University-Le Bonheur Pediatric Specialists, 49 N Dunlap Street, 266 Faculty Office Building, Memphis, TN 38105. Tel.: þ1 901 297 6031; fax: þ1 901 287 4434. E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Gosain) 0022-4804/$ e see front matter ª 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2017.06.015