New member

[$cubach!ck]

Long time diver but new to SB. I am finally completing the Rescue Diver course this month after 18 years of diving. Do you have any words of advice for the skills days?

 

[drrich2]

Welcome to ScubaBoard. It's been many years since I took the course, so nothing leaps to mind. It's one of the courses historically consistently highly regarded on the forum; I agree, in my case for the mentality it teaches (things like 'stop, think, act' rather than 'react/freak out,' and also 'aim to anticipate problems and mitigate risks preemptively'). The mentality, rather than the 'how to haul people out of diverse environments' skills, is what has stuck with me down through the years, though I imagine that varies for different people (and I have no dive professional/teaching credentials or roles, so I don't dive in any supervisory position).

Some have reported finding the skills days physically taxing, IIRC.

 

[$cubach!ck]

Welcome to ScubaBoard. It's been many years since I took the course, so nothing leaps to mind. It's one of the courses historically consistently highly regarded on the forum; I agree, in my case for the mentality it teaches (things like 'stop, think, act' rather than 'react/freak out,' and also 'aim to anticipate problems and mitigate risks preemptively'). The mentality, rather than the 'how to haul people out of diverse environments' skills, is what has stuck with me down through the years, though I imagine that varies for different people (and I have no dive professional/teaching credentials or roles, so I don't dive in any supervisory position).

Some have reported finding the skills days physically taxing, IIRC.

Thank you. I am looking at it much the same way you described it - learn to anticipate and prevent vs rescue. I've been doing a few extra workouts in preparation

 

[Jim Lapenta]

A good rescue class will spend as much time, if not more, on land practice to prevent accidents, including gear configurations, checklists, and the like.

It will also make it perfectly clear that after the class, you are not qualified to search underwater for a missing diver; you will not bring up a non-responsive diver unless it's your buddy or you saw the person go unconscious. And if you don't practice this regularly, you're more likely to hurt yourself and the victim if you try it without help.

If a diver goes missing, a responsible operation will remove every non-pro from the water, get EMS rolling, and wait for the recovery team to arrive.

You can be helpful on the surface. Underwater? It's more likely to be a recovery and recreational rescue divers are not qualified for that.

The most likely place a recreational rescue diver will be useful is on the surface during buddy checks. Catching problems before they happen. Loose reg or gauge, missing clip, weight belt not properly positioned, air not all the way on, etc.

It will make it clear that if you have a panicked diver on the surface, you do whatever you can to not get grabbed by them. Panicked divers will kill you.

Dump their weights from below, and if you can't get behind them to get control of them, push off and watch until more help arrives or they tire themselves out.

You'll probably have to play around doing in-water rescue breaths while towing.
I say play around because if you don't practice this skill on a very regular basis, all you will do is ensure brain damage or death by delaying getting them to a proper hard surface where effective CPR can take place. Even with regular practice, throw in a heavy wetsuit or drysuit, your adrenalin starts pumping, you can't get high enough yourself to get an airway, and a host of other issues can turn a possible resuscitation into sure death because the victim did not get to O2 and compressions or an AED fast enough.

Bringing a diver up from the bottom and carrying them out by yourself is a last resort. While you may be able to do it, you greatly increase the risk of hurting yourself and rendering you useless. GET HELP with an extraction.

Hopefully, the class will also spend a fair amount of time on the very real risk of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder you may develop as a rescuer or witness. If it doesn't, that's a problem.

 

[drrich2]

It will also make it perfectly clear that after the class, you are not qualified to search underwater for a missing diver; you will not bring up a non-responsive diver unless it's your buddy or you saw the person go unconscious. And if you don't practice this regularly, you're more likely to hurt yourself and the victim if you try it without help.

I'm glad you brought this up, and saddened I don't recall it being a prominent point in many past discussions of the Rescue Diver course (hopefully I'm mis-remembering). What you take from and carry forward from the course depends a lot on what else you do afterward.

I took it as a strictly recreational diver hoping to build my knowledge and skill base, learn a little more of the 'you don't know what you don't know' stuff, be a 'wiser diver,' etc... But I don't maintain CPR and First Aid certifications, review the Rescue Diver course manual, assist in Rescue Diver courses, guide dives or otherwise do any supervisory work. So I forgot a lot of the details.

Someone taking the Rescue Diver course en route to a working professional track (e.g.: Dive Master and/or Instructor, guiding dives and/or teaching) who will be supervising and responsible for student divers and expected to respond as part of the dive operation staff in emergencies will be in a very different position.

The course name makes it sound like a synonym for 'Lifeguard Diver,' but there's more of value to Rescue Diver than the 'rescue' part. Ironically, the call for a more mindful approach to scuba diving gave me deja vu when taking the SDI Solo Diver course the next year.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I'm glad you brought this up, and saddened I don't recall it being a prominent point in many past discussions of the Rescue Diver course (hopefully I'm mis-remembering). What you take from and carry forward from the course depends a lot on what else you do afterward.

I took it as a strictly recreational diver hoping to build my knowledge and skill base, learn a little more of the 'you don't know what you don't know' stuff, be a 'wiser diver,' etc... But I don't maintain CPR and First Aid certifications, review the Rescue Diver course manual, assist in Rescue Diver courses, guide dives or otherwise do any supervisory work. So I forgot a lot of the details.

Someone taking the Rescue Diver course en route to a working professional track (e.g.: Dive Master and/or Instructor, guiding dives and/or teaching) who will be supervising and responsible for student divers and expected to respond as part of the dive operation staff in emergencies will be in a very different position.

The course name makes it sound like a synonym for 'Lifeguard Diver,' but there's more of value to Rescue Diver than the 'rescue' part. Ironically, the call for a more mindful approach to scuba diving gave me deja vu when taking the SDI Solo Diver course the next year.

True. Sometimes, if the person pays attention, it will change your diving.
Some of it you will not necessarily like at first. You'll find yourself on boats and docks looking at everyone around you and weighing the risk they pose to your dive.

You'll look at some people and decide to stay as far away from them as possible.

You might even get off the boat or get back in your car and find another spot or somewhere else to spend the day.

For someone on the "pro route," it makes more sense and should be approached differently. It is part of what you may have to do. As a pro, deciding not to help someone under your care is not an option. Except in those rare cases where doing so would pose a significant risk to your safety.

The one that decides to bolt to the surface while you have other people you are responsible for? You may have to let them go and deal with the problem on the surface once you have everyone up.

The real value for a non-pro is recognizing problems before you get in the water. That's what a good course will focus on. The surface work in the water is valuable. The underwater stuff? Sometimes, I look back, and even though I stressed the stuff I wrote earlier in the classes I taught, there was always the worry that someone would forget that and, driven by ego or some misguided sense of responsibility, put themselves in a situation they had no business being in.

I often wished they would take some of the stuff out of the class for non-pros. Specifically the search for a missing diver and the rescue breaths while towing.

The former has a high risk of creating another victim. The latter is ensuring unsuccessful resuscitation efforts.

 

[$cubach!ck]

True. Sometimes, if the person pays attention, it will change your diving.
Some of it you will not necessarily like at first. You'll find yourself on boats and docks looking at everyone around you and weighing the risk they pose to your dive.

You'll look at some people and decide to stay as far away from them as possible.

You might even get off the boat or get back in your car and find another spot or somewhere else to spend the day.

For someone on the "pro route," it makes more sense and should be approached differently. It is part of what you may have to do. As a pro, deciding not to help someone under your care is not an option. Except in those rare cases where doing so would pose a significant risk to your safety.

The one that decides to bolt to the surface while you have other people you are responsible for? You may have to let them go and deal with the problem on the surface once you have everyone up.

The real value for a non-pro is recognizing problems before you get in the water. That's what a good course will focus on. The surface work in the water is valuable. The underwater stuff? Sometimes, I look back, and even though I stressed the stuff I wrote earlier in the classes I taught, there was always the worry that someone would forget that and, driven by ego or some misguided sense of responsibility, put themselves in a situation they had no business being in.

I often wished they would take some of the stuff out of the class for non-pros. Specifically the search for a missing diver and the rescue breaths while towing.

The former has a high risk of creating another victim. The latter is ensuring unsuccessful resuscitation efforts.

Thank you. Very helpful. My take away so far from the online portion is to watch for trouble before it starts.