Comprehensive Lifeguard Exam Notes

Primary responsibility: Conduct surveillance.
Professional appearance while conducting surveillance: Wearing the lifeguard uniform properly.
Action upon hearing thunder: Clear patrons from the water.
Entry for active drowning person in a crowded zone with 4-foot water depth: Slide-in entry.
Active drowning behaviors: Vertical, struggling, face above water, arms extended, pressing down for support, no forward progress.
Passive drowning behaviors: Unresponsive, at the surface/sinking/on the bottom.
Frequency of zone scan: Every 30 seconds.
Action when sun glare obstructs vision: Signal for assistance.
Lifeguard station response time: 1 ½ to 2 minutes.
Preventive lifeguarding example: Asking a patron to stop hyperventilating and explaining the dangers.
Response to aggressive dunking: Ask the patrons to stop dunking and briefly explain why it is dangerous.

Factor for swim team practice: Competitive swimmers are still susceptible to medical emergencies and drowning.
Activity for a day camp visit: Lifeguards administer swim tests.
Document guiding actions during emergencies: Emergency Action Plan (EAP).
Role of non-lifeguard safety team member: Summon EMS professionals and bring them to the scene.
Critical reason to activate EAP: Alert other lifeguards/members of the safety team.
First step when identifying a drowning person: Activate the emergency action plan.

Technique for active front rescue: Thrust the rescue tube into the person's chest to provide support.
Technique for towing a passive drowning person: Lay the drowning person's head back in an open airway position.
Technique for rescuing a passive drowning person in shallow water: Quickly swim or walk to their side.
Backboard position during rapid extrication: Near horizontal.

Consent is implied when the person is unconsious, confused or seriously ill.
Perform a rapid assessment during a medical emergency because something life threatening is exposed.
Simultaneously check for breathing and a pulse for no more than 10 seconds.
Check the brachial pulse on an infant.

First action for a passive drowning person with no pulse: Give 2 ventilations.
Proper use of a resuscitation mask on an adult: Seal the mask, open the airway and blow into the one-way valve.
Head position for ventilating a 6-year-old: Slightly past-neutral position.
Proper use of a bag-valve-mask (BVM) resuscitator: Effective use of a BVM resuscitator requires two rescuers.
Ventilation rate for an infant in respiratory arrest: 1 ventilation every 2 to 3 seconds.
Medical emergency when an adult is unresponsive with no breathing or pulse: Cardiac arrest.
Lifeguard's responsibility in the Adult Cardiac Chain of Survival: Defibrillating early with an AED.
Maximum interruption time for chest compressions during CPR: Keep any interruptions to chest compressions to less than 10 seconds.
Chest compression depth for an infant: About 1 ½2 inches.
Technique for two-rescuer CPR on an infant: Encircling thumbs technique.
Signal for role change during two-rescuer CPR: Say "Switch" in place of number 1 at the beginning of the CPR cycle.
AED pad placement on an adult: Upper right side, lower left side.
Compression-to-ventilation ratio during two-rescuer CPR on an adult: 30 compressions to 2 ventilations

Effect of using pediatric AED pads on an adult: The shock delivered will not be sufficient to correct the abnormal heart rhythm.
Response to a responsive, choking adult: Give cycles of 5 back blows and 5 abdominal thrusts.
Positioning an 8-month-old for back blows: Face down along the thigh with the infant's head lower than their body.

Next action when a responsive child is holding their arm and grimacing: Check the right arm for signs of injury.
Action for a grandmother with diabetes feeling weak, sweaty, and shaky asking for sugar: Give her candy containing fructose or sucrose.
Action for a dry chemical burn on the hand: Brush the chemical away with another object.
Action for a child with a suspected concussion: Have the child stop all activity and make sure 9-1-1 is called.

Situation for extrication with spinal motion restriction: A competitor at a swim meet collides head-first with the wall and submerges. When rescued and turned face-up, they appear to be breathing.
Head splint technique for a face-up person with suspected spinal injury: Provide in-line stabilization.