Dive pros...are you ready to deal with an emergency?

[divemed06]

I was just wondering...as dive pros (DM, Instructors), do you keep your first aid/cpr skills, rescue skills etc. up to high standards by practicing, taking different courses, doing drills etc...? Reason I'm asking is that for the common mortal who takes a first aid/cpr course, just like diving, will have poor skills if they are not practiced and refined on a continuous basis. It would be sad to here of an instructor, who might have superb diving and teaching skills, not being able to effectively deal with an emergency if one was to happen.

 

[Walter]

Some do. Some don't.

 

[mddolson]

Every two years,

My First AID , CPR and O2 provider are recertified every two years.


I try to alternate Ist aid and CPR so I don't have to do both each the same year.

MikeD

 

[divemed06]

Walter once bubbled...
Some do. Some don't.

So there is no requirement for dive pros to maintain a current first aid/CPR/other??

 

[Diver0001]

divemed06 once bubbled...
I was just wondering...as dive pros (DM, Instructors), do you keep your first aid/cpr skills, rescue skills etc. up to high standards by practicing, taking different courses, doing drills etc...? Reason I'm asking is that for the common mortal who takes a first aid/cpr course, just like diving, will have poor skills if they are not practiced and refined on a continuous basis. It would be sad to here of an instructor, who might have superb diving and teaching skills, not being able to effectively deal with an emergency if one was to happen.

What are you comparing to? If you're comparing to a real doctor than I probably suck big time.... but...

In the 1980's i was trained in what Canadians call "industrial first aid". I also did competitions at a provincial level so I think my basis is pretty solid but a bit rusty. In the late 1980's I trained first aid teams for competition and in the same period I attended a couple of mva's with victims who were badly injured. In the two worst cases I recieved something like a commendation from the RCMP for saving the life of someone who probably would have died if I hadn't have happened along. In one of those cases the victim "died" (stopped breathing) at the scene and we brought him back with major pain stimulus but we couldn't apply cpr because both his ribs and his face were all all crushed to hell (motorcycle accident). When he wiped out his helmet actually flew off his head from the impact and I remember radioing in for an ambulance and saying. "no rush he's been depapitated". as it was that was a major mistake because he was badly injured and the ambulance took a long time to get there even after repeatedly radioing in with a correction..... dumb dumb dumb. My grandfather was a mine-rescue expert and worked on local ambulances for many years and I learned a lot from watching what he did in mine-rescue competitions. He bawled me out for the depapitation thing "LOOK FIRST! THEN DRAW CONCLUSIONS" I learned a hellofa from a paramedic friend of his. In the 90's I did a major mva with multiple victims including the 4 legged variety. One of the victim's car's was literally split into two pieces and she was thrown from the car and was laying somewhere in a ditch when I found her. We actually had to search for her. Fortunatly I was with a buddy of mine from the first aid team that day and we took control. The woman in the car had been badly injured and we managed to keep her alive long enough for the amulance to get there. She wasn't all broken up like the motorcycle guy but she had some pretty serious internal injuries (bleeding in the pelvis probably from the seat belt) that I couldn't treat at the scene. That one scared me more than the motorcycle guy because I thought the motorcycle guy was dead to start with and we saved him by "doing things" but this woman was alive and going to die because there was very little I could do at my skill level. Feeling powerless sucks big. Thankfully the police were early on the scene and I had them free up a lane on the freeway both ways for the ambulance and that saved at least 10 minutes. It was a funny experience to be a "nobody" who takes control and starts ordering the police to do things and they just say OK and do it and come back for more... I enjoyed that after the fact. After the accident I went to the pub with my buddy (sort of decompression stop) and we saw ourselves on TV. And I must say *that* was good media because they got everything and I didn't even realise they were there. The police probably managed that but I was so busy I did'nt notice a thing. That's when I got a good look at her car. The entire passenger's side of the car including the motor had been ripped away almost all the way to the gear-shift and was laying 50 metres further up.

After that I saw a few more car accidents but nothing this traumatic and I did nothing more until I got retrained in first aid to do my DM. The course was the PADI MFA (too fast but a good refresher for someone who already knows it) and the cpr part was done by an experienced trauma doctor who just happened to be a member of the dive-club. I've never needed to apply cpr or rescue an injured victim while diving so my technique would probably look pretty sloppy to a doctor but I know for sure that I can manage an accident scene.

As for keeping up. I do the MFA thing every couple of years but there is really no substitute for the hard school of experience when it comes to managing accidents.

R..

 

[Snowbear]

I also take a first aid kit with airway supplies to every dive site/boat. If available, I also take O2, but that's not always possible (yet).

 

[Northeastwrecks]

I try to maintain my proficiency. I'm an EFR Instructor. I carry fairly comprehensive crash kits and fire extinguishers in both cars. We practice emergencies at the beginning of each teaching season. We always have an O2 kit available during classes, and will bring it with us on the boat if there is any question regarding availability.

 

[DiveTyme]

I keep CPR, First Aid, and O2 current and ever winter reread the Rescue Diver and Divemaster text books. Every spring, before I do OW dives with any students, I get together with some other dive pros and have mock dive emergencies. Finally, the night before any OW dives with students, I mentally go over the next day dives and how to handle any emergencies.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Interesting question.

I used to teach a lot of medic first aid courses. That gave me practice with the dummy. Then PADI switched to the new course and I didn't feel like crossing over. I never like teaching it that much anyway. I like to teach diving.

I guess I could do CPR as good on the dummy now as I ever did but the fact is that I've never done it for real.

I may be more likely to have to administer CPR or other first aid at work that while out diving.

Then there is always emergency skills in the water. I carry O2 ALWAYS. Also everyplace we teach has fast EMS response times. Once I get an injured person out of the water I'll be relieved quickly.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Classroom practice is still good preparation for real life emergencies, but like the old Coca Cola slogan says, "Ain't nothin' like the real thing, baby."

Dehydration, poor physical fitness, diving on major medications, and more from the vacationing public gives occasional real-life practice. Add together multiple factors and it's damn near amazing that something doesn't happen more often.