To initiate CPR on a drowning victim, what is the first step?

The initial step in performing CPR on a drowning victim involves ensuring that the airway is clear and providing rescue breaths, making mouth-to-mouth ventilations the critical first action. This choice is based on the nature of drowning, where the victim is likely to experience asphyxia due to water in the lungs. Administering breaths first allows you to deliver oxygen directly into their lungs, which is paramount in a situation where the body is deprived of oxygen.

By starting with mouth-to-mouth ventilations, you can quickly address the most immediate need—the lack of oxygen—while someone else or you can simultaneously seek emergency support. Following these breaths, chest compressions would typically be initiated, but the priority for a drowning victim is to restore breathing and oxygenation before circulation. Looking for signs of life is a useful assessment step, but it does not take priority over providing immediate care through ventilations when dealing with drowning victims.