Deep Dive: An Interview with Dr David Szpilman

June 4, 2026: Dr David Szpilman: Drowning Is Preventable: What if one of the biggest barriers to preventing drowning isn't a lack of rescue skills, but how we think about drowning itself?

Physician, researcher, and drowning prevention pioneer Dr. David Szpilman joins Deep Dive Into Water Safety to discuss the science, data, and lifesaving strategies that have helped reshape drowning prevention around the world and what Hawaiʻi can learn from them.

Dr. David Szpilman is a physician, founder of SOBRASA (the Brazilian Lifesaving Society), creator of the internationally recognized Szpilman Drowning Classification System, and one of the world's leading voices in drowning prevention. In this episode of Deep Dive Into Water Safety, Dr. Szpilman discusses why drowning should be viewed as a preventable process rather than an unavoidable accident. He explains the importance of using consistent terminology, including moving away from outdated terms such as 'near drowning,' to improve data collection, treatment, and prevention efforts worldwide.

The conversation explores the drowning timeline, the Drowning Chain of Survival, and the critical role ventilation plays in drowning resuscitation. Dr. Szpilman shares research demonstrating how quickly respiratory arrest can progress to cardiac arrest and discusses recent guidance emphasizing the importance of ventilation in drowning response. The discussion also examines the gap between research and frontline lifeguard operations, highlighting the need for better incident reporting and more detailed data to guide prevention strategies. Dr. Szpilman argues that collecting the right information is often more important than conducting more studies if communities hope to identify effective interventions.

Other topics include water competency, adolescent and male risk-taking behavior, experiential water safety education, the role of lifeguards as first responders, and the challenges Hawaiʻi faces with visitor snorkeling fatalities. The conversation explores how targeted education, improved signage, better data systems, and stronger collaboration between researchers and practitioners can help reduce drowning deaths. Throughout the episode, Dr. Szpilman returns to a central message that has guided decades of work in Brazil and around the world:

Drowning is preventable when we understand the risks, prepare people for the environment, and intervene before an emergency occurs.

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