Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellow Medical College of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Background: Drowning is the leading cause of death in children ages 1 to 4 and is the second leading cause of unintentional injury related death in those ages 5 to 14 in the United States. Since 2000, in the state of Wisconsin, there have been 334 drowning related deaths in children. Objective: While there is existing guidance regarding drowning prevention, pool policies and regulations vary, with many not readily available to the public. This project aims to collect data regarding current policies in place at outdoor public pools throughout Wisconsin with emphasis placed on topics discussed in the 2021 AAP Technical Report on the Prevention of Drowning and the 2023 US National Water Safety Action Plan such as water competency, supervision, alcohol use, and life jacket use. Design/Methods: A representative sample of outdoor community pools were identified by a statewide Google Maps search in January 2023. We included pools from geographically diverse areas. Only one pool from each community was included. We did not include private pools, indoor pools, hotel pools, bodies of open water, and/or waterparks. We gathered the policy documents if available from the community pools’ websites. A detailed survey was also distributed to each of the identified pools. Results: We identified 35 outdoor community pools of which only 20 (57%) had any policies available online. Policies listed were often incomplete and lacked information on our topics of interest.
We received survey responses from 80% of the 35 pools. There was marked variability in the responses for most topics. The age for independent entrance to the facilities was 9.11 (SD 2.91), with younger patrons having to be accompanied by an adult age 15.68 (SD 1.6). Mandatory rest periods were held at 77.8% (n=21) pools, and the majority had lifeguards on duty during the break. Non-lifeguard staff were required to have basic first aid certification and CPR certification at 42.9% (n=12) and 35.7% (n=10) pools, respectively. Lifejackets were allowed at 82.1% (n=23) facilities, however only 73.9% (n=17) required them to be US Coast Guard approved. Fifty nine percent (n=13) had lifejackets at the facility that could be provided to patrons. Of the 96.4% (n=27) facilities that had a deep end, 81.5% (n=22) required a swim test with the distance to swim being 29.52 (SD 15.08) yards.
Conclusion(s): Results of this study demonstrate the significant variability in current outdoor public pool policies across Wisconsin. These findings emphasize the need for continued development and implementation of best practice recommendations to prevent drowning and promote water safety.
.jpg "Jamie Holland, MD photo")