I can list some.... from the PADI course, Ditch and Don, Buddy Breathing, Tables.
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There have been some cuts.You keep alluding to these but I can't find any posts where you specify things that have been removed from a particular program other than general physical fitness. Could you be specific about what you believe has been deleted from ANY of the programs? I'm seriously curious but I can't find any skills that have been deleted, so far.
You keep alluding to these but I can't find any posts where you specify things that have been removed from a particular program other than general physical fitness. Could you be specific about what you believe has been deleted from ANY of the programs? I'm seriously curious but I can't find any skills that have been deleted, so far.
Here are some tips for those who run organizations that teach scuba and think the OW certification is incomplete:
1. Run a combined OW/AOW program. Lots of places do that. No need to invent new curriculum at all.
2. Create distinctive specialties. Thinking that the recreational program leaves some key concepts (like gas planning) out, I created an approved PADI distinctive specialty called Dive Planning that includes just about everything that was left out. It teaches what I think is important, gives the student an official card, and has the blessing of the insurance carrier. PeterGuy on SB has a PADI distinctive specialty called Intro to Tech that covers much of the same stuff.
3. Just teach what you want. I add a lot of stuff to the OW class and teach it until I see the students understand it. Technically, I can't require it for passing the course, but since I see they understand it through informal evaluation, there really isn't any difference.
4. Create workshops that teach the skills you think are missing. I created one that looks a lot like GUE fundamentals. It doesn't lead to a new certification, but so what?
All four seem a lot easier to me than essentially creating a new agency.
This isn't a skill but it certainly is a very significant deletion made with no other goal than profit, and one that clearly puts profit over safety. Letting a student sign their own medical saying that they are fit to dive! I can witness to a scuba diver being paralyzed from that very thing. I treated him in a hyperbaric chamber from Sat morning till Wed. Evening before we could even move him to a bigger chamber.
I am still very paranoid about adding or subtracting from a PADI course. I have students exit the water and then inform them the PADI course is over. Would they like to get back in and continue with more training? I then show them skills taught by other agencies for the open water level.
To be a DM you need to be a rescue diver, which requiers EFR, in other words, there IS lifesaving requirements for DMs..My chief pet peeve of skills that have been deleted for safety sake, is livesaving training for divemasters. Not diver to diver, but swimmer to swimmer. The first time that an instructor gets to evaluate a student is during the swim test, and if they fail the swim test or have heart attack? I can't recall lifeguard training every being a pre-req which would have actually made more sense.
There are a number of drownings during swim tests, not just with scuba. The point is, drowning is a very common occurrence and you would think preventing that should be addressed at the swim test level.
Right now entry level, divemaster and instructor have skill standards set by ANSI, public domain easily downloadable. The major agencies don't have to follow them, it is not against the law to ignore them, but if you are trained to ANSI standards that what is the difference who does it?
Oh, and who developed the standards? Why the RSTC, after skills like lifesaving were dropped.
This isn't a skill but it certainly is a very significant deletion made with no other goal than profit, and one that clearly puts profit over safety. Letting a student sign their own medical saying that they are fit to dive! I can witness to a scuba diver being paralyzed from that very thing. I treated him in a hyperbaric chamber from Sat morning till Wed. Evening before we could even move him to a bigger chamber.