Is Rescue training a turning point in diving perspective?

[TMHeimer]

There is a lot in the Rescue manual (and e learning I guess is the same)-- maybe as much to digest as in the OW manual.
I think like many aspects of scuba, a lot of it is just logical. You read a lot of folks saying a big part of Rescue is prevention. That is true. But it also makes sense that someone not Rescue trained should be able to use common sense to tell someone they shouldn't dive with faulty equipment, or to realize a fellow diver's equipment has something amiss. Or to sense that someone is uneasy about making the dive. Perhaps some of this stuff is also covered in a Lifeguard job?
OTOH, there are a number of techniques covered in the course that you wouldn't figure out on your own and do properly. One example is exactly what to do when faced with a panicked diver at the surface. Another is the exact way to tow an unconscious diver while removing equipment and giving rescue breaths (if rescue breaths are the best way to go).
While all the info. in the course is important, I think the most important stuff is the specific techniques you learn which without the course you would have no idea about what to do.

I have always felt these exact techniques should maybe be taught in the OW course (I know one agency does some of this), or at least perhaps explained (with a disclaimer that the agency takes no responsibility if you mess up doing a rescue). Or something like that. I know many disagree.

 

[Julius SCHMIDT]

Here you are

 

[TMHeimer]

Here you are

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Yeah excellent. Best to actually train with an instructor, but reading about it IMO is better than nothing. Much better.

 

[Gareth J]

It's an interesting perspective.

The Rescue course is integral to the BSAC structure. So each level of qualification includes elements and more complex rescue elements. OD is much like PADI OW. Get yourself and your buddy to the surface. By the time you do Dive Leader, you are doing full rescue management and O2 admin'. You can do stand alone courses as well.
Because of C-19, we haven't been able to run an O2 course, because of the AV elements. We would have run one over the winter months under normal circumstances.
The PRM (Practical Rescue Management), is great fun, much like the Rescue course. The more people you have involved the better the course.

Technical course teach you to plan contingencies for the dive going wrong, loss of gas, etc. The Rescue courses teach to consider how you are going to manage an incident within the dive team, immediate first aid, and then evacuation of casualty(s). So there is a change of perspective.

 

[scubadada]

I did not do AOW until 85 dives and did not do Rescue until 120 dives. Rescue was a good class, but not a pivotal point in my dive experience.

 

[Manatee Diver]

To me, no it wasn't. But I waited pretty late, IIRC @tmassey said "Most people don't wait until after Trimix to take rescue."

I think the most important aspects of rescue was raising your awareness and "Stop, think, and then act" are things covered in tech courses and other non-scuba courses.

 

[rongoodman]

I don't think so. I use skills learned in cave training on every dive, but I don't think too much about my Rescue course. OTOH, by the time I took it it was just another in a long line of technical rescue courses I'd taken over the years, so that might have lessened its impact for me.