Developing a Treatment Protocol for Shark Attack Victims: A Systematic Review
Abstract
Shark attacks are a multifactorial rare traumatic event that makes headlines globally. However, shark attacks increased by 23% across the globe within the past 20 years on a multifactorial scale driven by climate change and human impacts, yet healthcare lacks treatment guidelines for these victims. Although shark attacks are rare, treatment consists of standard trauma guidelines, such as transfusions, standard labs, diagnostic imaging, and prophylactic antibiotics. This systematic review proposed a shark attack treatment protocol that will potentially reduce the morbidity and mortality rates by assessing prehospital management with transfusions, hospital management with prophylactic antibiotics, and mental health evaluations to prevent and/or treat psychological impacts. Two databases were used, Access Medicine and Google Scholar. This study screened 463 sources and eliminated 432 sources due to repetition or irrelevance to this study. The review revealed that shark attack victims have a greater risk of hypovolemic shock and hypothermia. Treatment should be immediately initiated. Due to the lack of emergency medical service guidelines for blood transfusions, a protocol has been proposed. The protocol initiates with prehospital management by implementing EMS to follow the SHARC protocol (systolic blood pressure (SBP) < 90, hemorrhage, appearance, radius of the bite over 15 cm, and coagulopathy) to administer whole blood transfusions in route to a hospital to prevent…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a systematic review. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid.
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