About the American Red Cross Aquatics Guidelines and Best Practices

The American Red Cross Aquatics Guidelines and Best Practices database brings together the most current recommended actions for lifeguards and emergency responders, as appropriate. The aquatics guidelines are based on the results of scientific evidence evaluations and guideline reviews overseen by the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council as well as data, reviews and guidance from other significant sources, such as the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR). The database also presents established industry best practices based on decades of Red Cross experience in the field of aquatics. As a result, database presents robust content in the following areas: 

  • Lifeguarding
  • Drowning Resuscitation
  • First Aid
  • Education 

For easy access to essential information, the database is organized by the areas listed above, which are further divided into sections and topics. For example, the Lifeguarding category includes an Injury Prevention section that features topics such as Risk of Drowning in Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Each topic is structured to include:

  • Red Cross Guidelines that are specific to the topic and based on the latest evidence and established industry best practices.
  • Evidence Summary sections that provide a synopsis of the most recent and important science to support the guidelines.
  • Insights and Implications that describe related observations, the rationale behind guideline reviewer opinions or important gaps in knowledge or research.
  • Last Full Review that identifies when the last systematic or scoping reviews were completed by the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council and/or the ILCOR.
  • Last Update that identifies when the last Triennial Updates were completed by the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council or the last Evidence Updates were completed by ILCOR.

 

Science and Technical Content 

The scientific content and evidence within the American Red Cross Aquatics Guidelines and Best Practices are consistent with the most current science and treatment recommendations from:

  • The American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council
  • The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR)
  • The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
  • The Policy Statements, Evidence Reviews and Guidelines of:
    • The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
    • The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP)
    • The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
    • The American College of Surgeons (ACS)
    • The Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care (CoTCCC)
    • The Society for Critical Care Medicine and the American College of Critical Care Medicine (ACCM)
    • The Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC)