retired_yesmoncar

More likely the guardian was to blame, than the ambulance, I see what you're saying, and it's not about blame, I'm gonna stop now, explaining myself worse than you

retired_nini59

like I said I've heard they are bringing a counsellor in, I think I'll be ok, it was just on my mind today a lot because my lectures are so so dull. Even if they don't and it does become a problem the uni have a decent enough counselling service.

retired_mountainsong

what are lifeguarding rules in the UK? I was certified as a lifeguard in the US, and you had to have a ratio of i think no more than 15-20 people per guard, rotations every 10 minutes and on each rotation everybody had to go to the edge of the pool for a check

retired_nini59

yeah, they change more to do with the way in which people do CPR rather than what is more effective. They found that having differing CPR routines for babies, children and adults was causing too many people to panic and not do anything at all so they standardised it all as much as possible in order to ensure that people administer CPR even if it's not the best form. Clearly there's not too much difference between 15/2 and 30/2 or indeed 5/1, but there is between 30/2 or 15/1 and nothing, they also got rid of the checking for pulse as it slowed too many people down and no-one could ever find it anyway, and the whole measuring on the chest.

retired_nini59

each pool is different, I'm not sure if there are actually any laws, I don't think there are, I've heard of private places having one lifeguard on all day, or even not having lifeguards at all.

At the aquatics centre and most pools I think it's 30 people for one lifeguard, 31-70 for 2, 71+ 3. 30 minute rotations at the aquatics, but upto 2.5 hours on pool at once, at the other place I work they had 30 minute shifts on pool wherever possible, (1 hour maximum), then you'd get time off, now they've changed it to 1 hour shifts, as they were missing too many rotations.

You also got to have so many lifeguards in the building at any one time, incase there is an incident.

retired_mountainsong

they've done a similar thing with fire extinguishers, made them all red because people panicked too much trying to remember what the black one was for, etc, so they made them all red with a coloured sticker and have just sort of hoped buildings have been smart enough to equip the right ones

retired_mountainsong

haha NJ had so many random rules, couldnt be in the pool for 20 minutes if you heard thunder, so many times kids would have to wait 20 minutes, 19 would go by and it'd thunder again and they'd have to wait another 20 xwise

retired_nini59

it wouldnt be your fault? </BLOCKQUOTE>

That wouldn't be your main concern though, well, for me personally anyway, I'd always be thinking 'could I have done it better? would he be alive if I'd done something differently?'

Not saying that's how they should feel, it's how I'd probably feel, but obviously it's a situation that is hopefully never likely to happen. </BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm really not sure how I would feel, if I'd known I'd done CPR right then I wouldn't have any problems there (if I did it wrong then I probably would feel quite guilty), my main problem would be that I didn't spot it soon enough or prevent it happening in the first place. Which would depend on the situation in question I'd guess, if it was a child then yes the parents are most responsible, but if say I was looking at some hot girl or at another pool when it happened I would ofc think "what if". If I was doing my job properly then I think I'd deal with it eventually.

We have a 10:20 rule that says you've got to spot an incident within 10 seconds and have responded, (i.e be at the casualty) within 20. It ofc would be impossible to know how long it took you to spot it though. But I guess that would come out in the investigation.

If it's the case of an adult then any drowning is most likely to be needed to to a heart attack, or other unforeseen problem, and there's nothing you can do about it, generally speaking though no-one should drown without you getting there within the 20 seconds, and if you do that then you've got a pretty good chance of resuscitation if it's purely a drowning issue.

retired_nini59

ofc you wouldn't stop doing CPR though unless someone else was ready to take over, or you were too physically exhausted, by which time it's probably too late anyway. Luckily there'd always be someone ready on poolside.

retired_nini59

it's different when it's your job though, you're legally and morally responsible for that person's well being, if it happened in the canal or in a lake or river I don't think I'd feel much guilt at all even if I did it all wrong, as I'd know that without me there then they would've died anyway. At work it's different, someone might die if I mess up doing CPR on them, but there would be other people there who might have saved them if I'd have stepped aside and let them do it. Plus I'd have to question whether I could've prevented it.

In some ways it's a bit like taking a penalty in football, as soon as the whistle is blown you run as fast as you can to grab the ball and you want to take responsibility, but then when you think about how you'd feel if you miss when someone else scores it then you're very relieved you didn't have to take it.

In a way I felt a lot more relieved for the lifeguard than for the actual kid when he came around.