Lifeguarding today: a preview of the new lifeguarding program.

More has changed for lifeguards over the years than the style of their bathing suits. Changes in technology, new techniques, and innovative trends have resulted in a new American Red Cross lifeguard training program. Looking ahead, tomorrow's lifeguard training will offer realistic skills while mandating the use of the rescue tube. An emphasis will be placed on surveillance, lifeguard professionalism, and the prevention of aquatic emergencies, allowing for a better understanding of the aquatic environment in which a lifeguard works.

The change began in 1986 when the American Red Cross Board of Governors approved a resolution requiring Health and Safety Services at its national headquarters to review educational materials relating to lifeguarding every three years to assess any need for revisions. In keeping with this resolution and in light of tremendous changes in rescue skills techniques and other trends affecting the aquatics field, the American Red Cross lifeguarding program was reviewed in 1992.

In the Spring of 1993, the American Red Cross began updating its lifeguard training program. This process involved reviewing more than 2,000 surveys, interviewing professionals, analyzing past comments of instructors and students, interacting with focus groups, and seeking input from other interested aquatics agencies.

A lifeguarding questionnaire was developed to gather information from various groups, including NRPA members. The questionnaire was circulated to thousands of aquatics professionals at several conferences, as well as to Red Cross paid and volunteer staff. Red Cross received more than 2,000 completed questionnaires and letters during the six-month survey period, some from as far away as Puerto Rico, Japan, Australia, and Saudi Arabia.

Respondent Demographics 

The input from these questionnaires helped to shape the American Red Cross lifeguarding program's future, particularly since responses came from those familiar not only with Red Cross Health and Safety Programs but with the aquatics field as well. The following shows the breakdown of survey respondents and their Red Cross certifications:

* 40% Basic Lifeguarding

* 82% Lifeguard Training

* 78% Lifeguard Instructor

* 38% Lifeguarding Instructor Trainer

* 85% Water Safety Instructor

* 44% Water Safety Instructor Trainer

* 36% Safety Training for Swim Coaches

* 79% Adult CPR 

* 46% Adult CPR Instructor

* 59% Infant/Child CPR

* 35% Infant/Child CPR Instructor

* 58% Community CPR

* 38% Community CPR Instructor

* 36% CPR-Basic Life Support (BLS)

* 25% CPR-BLS Instructor

* 84% Standard First Aid

* 49% Standard First Aid Instructor

The breakdown by profession is as follows:

* 74% swimming instructors

* 54% public pool personnel

* 39% park and recreation personnel

* 36% swim coaches

* 28% college or university faculty

* 26% high school faculty

* 26% private club personnel

Respondents expressed the following ideas consistently:

* support for a modular delivery of courses within the lifeguarding curriculum

* support for enhancing first aid and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training for lifeguards

* support for greater emphasis on equipment-based and non-swimming rescues

* support for greater quality control over instruction in the lifeguarding program at all levels (participant, instructor, and instructor trainer)

* confusion over the difference between the Basic Lifeguarding and Lifeguard Training courses (in terms of purpose and content)

Despite the usefulness of survey responses, additional research was conducted and included in-water skills assessments, task analyses, and data base searches in areas such as physiology, legal liability, and personal safety. The questionnaire findings, as well as those gleaned from other research, were assessed and helped form the basis of the new 1994 American Red Cross lifeguard training program.

An advisory group of 12 highly qualified aquatic professionals from around the country, supported by an American Red Cross National Headquarters staff, helped guide the new program's development.

And a number of skills using equipment available to a lifeguard in today's aquatic areas were pilot-tested. Based on this work and the complete consensus of the advisory group, the American Red Cross will offer for implementation in the Fall of 1994 what should be the standard by which lifeguarding and water safety will be measured into the next century.

A New Dawn in Lifeguarding Standards

The program for lifeguard training will offer realistic skills while mandating the use of the rescue tube. There will be an emphasis on surveillance, lifeguard professionalism, and the prevention of aquatic emergencies. This will better prepare lifeguards for the specific aquatic environments in which they work. The lifeguard training program is designed to handle the pool environment with modules availabel for specific areas such as water fronts (open water/non-surf) and water parks.

The modular concept of training certainly is not new to the American Red Cross, having been used successfully throughout the years in many programs; but this is its first use in the lifeguard training program. The lifeguard core and the specialized modules may be taught in aquatic environments that meet some minimum standards, as the advisory group saw that the environmentally specialized training was critical to the program's reliability and competency. This training specificity will enhance the lifeguard training program's total scope.

The new program represents many changes from the current lifeguard program in both emphasis areas and philosophy, one of the most significant being that all rescues are equipment-based for the victim's and lifeguard's safety and ease of rescue. The use of the rescue tube or other appropriate equipment is mandatory, and surveillance and victim recognition receive more emphasis. As a result, prevention of aquatic emergencies and lifeguards' early intervention will save more lives than ever before.

The equipment-based skills taught in the new lifeguard program are designed around the use of the rescue tube as the lifeguard's primary piece of equipment. The skills are easy to perform, designed with a rear approach to the victim, and so similar that one basic technique serves the rescuer in most situations. The types of rescue techniques are performance-related, such as active victim rear rescue, passive victim rear rescue, and submerged victim rescue.

The techniques dealing with spinal injuries and the boarding of suspected spinal injury victims have been simplified so that cervical collar placement no longer will be necessary. The emphasis on head immobilization after initial contact is based on the use of a commercial head immobilizer attached to a backboard. This process has been simplified to the extent that it takes only two people to handle a spinal injury victim during rescue, boarding, and removal from the water.

Another change in the American Red Cross lifeguarding program is the mandatory use of training videos. This not only will assist all instructors but will ensure consistency and standardization and enhance the quality of skill performance. The skills shown in training videos are performed by actual lifeguards, not actors, and are designed to show how the rescue skills actually work.

Another component of the new program is the inclusion of CPR for professional rescuers and first aid training specifically geared for the aquatic environment. Tomorrow's lifeguard training instructor will be required to participate in a single, all inclusive instructor course composed of lifeguard training, CPR professional level skills, and first aid training.

Preparing Lifeguards for Aquatics Careers

This American Red Cross lifeguard training program will fill many of the needs of those who wish to be more than a regular lifeguard at a facility and may encourage aquatics careers. It covers risk management, injury prevention, selection and training of lifeguards, interaction with patrons, and planning emergency response. This information and training will enable the head lifeguard to become a key player on the aquatics facility management team.

Basic water safety and emergency water safety programs have been effective in the past, but these programs apparently have not met the general public's needs completely. The 1994 updated program is called Community Water Safety and will combine the elements of basic and emergency water safety programs. This program offers a knowledge base that includes the most up-to-date materials possible.

Local American Red Cross chapters can be contacted for information about the new lifeguard training program. Training for implementation of the program is anticipated to take two or two and one-half days.

The future of aquatics requires lifeguards with top-notch skills and ability to use state-of-the-art equipment and nationally approved techniques. The American Red Cross has looked long and hard at what has been successful in the past and what is necessary for the future to develop a training program that will enable tomorrow's lifeguards to perform their duties effectively and safely.

References

Terrell, Patty (1993). "The American Red Cross Strives to Lead the Lifeguarding Profession into the Twenty-first Century." Aquatics International. June/July 1993.

Health and Safety Notice No. 124. DevelOps #29. American Red Cross Health and Safety Department. January 31, 1994.