Insights from Rescue for BP/W users

[rsdancey]

No compressions in the water - just rescue breathing. Even that may be outdated from a clinical perspective at this date due to the twin difficulties of keeping an open airway, and keeping the diver from aspirating vs. the minimal benefit such breathing probably has vs. faster exit from the water. I'm increasingly of the mind to plan to put a regulator in a distressed diver's mouth while swimming hard for the shore/boat, and occasionally pressing the purge valve.

I can see the value of using an immediate series of rescue breaths to attempt to get the body to spontaneously breathe on its own, but the more I read about in-water diving accidents, the less I have come to accept that a distressed diver can benefit from such breaths. I suspect most distressed divers have airways full of water (no way to clear), and/or air embolisms from rapid ascents (fluid/blood in lungs and no way to clear).

If you're so far from shore or boat that rescue breathing looks like a good choice, you're probably too far away to complete a successful resuce anyway.

Ryan

 

[Cacia]

sorry---I keep butting in. I would like to echo that and remind people that initital rescue breaths on unconscious freedivers with blackout are anecdotally successful fairly often.

 

[Bobby]

As a qualified instructor, YOU"RE WRONG!

Funny I guess when I took my Rescue, DM, Asst. Inst., Instructor course and went to the IE that all the course directors and Instructor Examiners were wrong to allow my BP & Wing. I also teach all my courses to include O/W in BP & Wing as well as doubles. Check the standards sir.

Bobby

 

[Damselfish]

The thing about Rescue it's always an artificial situation. You are always making some effort not to trash the pool with weights, lose gear in OW, etc. And when you would want to remove a harness, you're not going to cut it. Maybe in class it should just be <pretend to cut harness here> while the victim wakes up and takes the thing off. If it were real, you're going to dump the weight belt with caring where it goes, and if the right thing to do is to remove a harness you're hopefully going to whip out your cutting device and get it done.

When I took Rescue I was thinking it would be good if it formally included a discussion of all the basic types of BCs and gear you might run into. Even better if they brought samples to practice with. I'm sure some instructors make a point of covering this, and sometimes it gets covered because of the gear people happen to show up with, but it would be nice not to leave it to chance.

 

[TSandM]

Well, I'm not giving up my BP/W, and THAT has nothing to do with DIR or not. It has to do with comfort!

I have no problem getting out of my gear in the water -- when I'm conscious.

Gear removal is generally to get the person out of the water, either onto a boat or through the surf. You don't jettison the flotation until you have to.

Partially deflating the back-inflate BC helped with the rolling, but made it more problematic to keep his face out of the water. There's undoubtedly a happy medium, but it may be exciting trying to find it in an emergency.

But of course, if I follow the protocols I've been taught, and dive with people with similar training, none of this rescue stuff may ever be pertinent . . . I certainly hope so!

 

[PaulChristenson]

Well, I'm not giving up my BP/W, and THAT has nothing to do with DIR or not. It has to do with comfort!

I have no problem getting out of my gear in the water -- when I'm conscious.

QUOTE]

Amen...

Started with a Dive-Rite BP/W in my very first class of OW [my instructor was a hardcore Cave Diver ] and have continued with it for my training and all my trips to the carribbean

Never had an instructor even comment on it...other than to say Gee...its RED!

Paul in VT

 

[Floridawannabe]

TSandM, I think your thread is great as all your threads are. It allows other divers to learn. Not one person has the same get up as everyone else does. I think you are a better diver for taking the Diver Stress/ Rescue Course. Ignore GhostDiver1957 he just shows people that the business he runs will not last that long with his attitude. Keep on diving TSandM and learning all you can.

 

[bladephotog]

My stress and rescue instructor (SDI) gave me the option of taking the course in my BP/W or my Transpac. I chose to use the Transpac since I didn't want to get cut out of my doubles rig. But, we were all taught the proper procedures for a BP/W. And anytime I dive with someone new part of my S-drill is making sure they understand how to cut me out of my rig.

Great thread.

 

[DivingCRNA]

Bingo. If I'm in a state where I desperately need to be removed from my gear, they can shred anything they like, and if I'm diving with someone whose life depends on my removing their gear, I don't really care what they're wearing. Learned that during EMT training, I learned that. Nothing is spared the wrath of the blade. I'll cut someone out of a rented, chlorine soaked, 50$ BC and I'll cut someone out of a $10K tech rig.

I'm getting ready to take the rescue class soon. I could see some benefit to in water breathing, I suppose, but maybe I'll figure it out during the class, but I can't figure out how you would get CPR to work?? Where's the hard surface? Pin em to the bottom? I can't imagine compressions at the surface having any benefit at all. They only have a 30% success rate on land.

Unless you did your EMT training where I did. Unless you want a BIG MESS, do NOT clut someone out of a down jacket. Trust me.

After I moved to Missouri, someone did it in the ER at the hospital I give anesthesia at. It was a room full of feathers because none of these southern folks knew better! :11doh:

 

[mech]

I bought my first BP/wing rig long before I heard of DIR.
It just looked right and felt comfy.
I took my PADI rescue class in it (about a year or so before fundy's)and my instructor went verbally bizerk,used me as a "what not to wear" example and ridiculed me in front of my kid....before we had the "TALK".
I ended up feeling sad that I embarressed my kid.No kid needs to see that.
If I could do it over I would have better screened the instructor and done the class after fundy's.
YMMV.
Andy