PADI Rescue Diver or SSI Stress & Rescue Speciality?

[pauldw]

+1 on shop the instructor, not the agency.

Every time I hear someone say this, I marvel at both what good advice it is, and what utterly pointless advice it is. Sure it would be nice to pick a great instructor. But how is someone who doesn't know the available instructors, and doesn't have anything like Google ratings to consult, going to judge that? How many people actually have an option to pick any instructor at all, much less a great one?

 

[boulderjohn]

I suspect the main difference is that SSI allows instructors to add skills to the course and run skills in a different order, PADI tends to be very strict.

This is a very common misunderstanding.

In one past thread on this topic, someone posted a message from PADI CEO and President Drew Richardson talking about the value of the things that instructors add to the courses. In the first shop where I taught, our PADI Course Director asked each of the instructors to give him a list of the things we added to the OW course so he could make a list of common additions to make our courses more consistent instructor to instructor.

The confusion is that a PADI instructor cannot refuse to certify a student for failing a skill that was added to the course. If the additional stuff was just added information or experience, no problem. If the student is tested on it and does well, no problem. If the student takes 5 tries to succeed, no problem.

That makes any additional information or skill the same as all the others, because instead of failing a student for not performing a required skill proficiently, you are supposed to continue teaching until the student succeeds.

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

This is a very common misunderstanding.

I actually had two different instructors tell me about PADI not allowing overteaching - so it’s probably a very common misconception :-( .

 

[boulderjohn]

I actually had two different instructors tell me about PADI not allowing overteaching - so it’s probably a very common misconception :-( .

Yep. A little more than a dozen years ago the debate raged on ScubaBoard, with people insisting that instructors who added stuff to the course would be expelled, and others quoted PADI policy and statements from PADI headquarters in response. One guy was particularly tireless in his posting. This was also the time when the movement to neutral buoyancy instruction was taking off, and that same tireless guy responded to statements from PADI leaders, including CEO and President Richardson, by claiming their statements were simply their mistaken personal opinions. He actually said in a post that instructors who did what Richardson told them to do would be expelled.

 

[Martijn]

I suspect the main difference is that SSI allows instructors to add skills to the course and run skills in a different order, PADI tends to be very strict.

There is no sequencing requirement within the PADI Rescue course. Ofcourse, skills do need to be taught before the rescue scenario's

 

[TravisD]

Every time I hear someone say this, I marvel at both what good advice it is, and what utterly pointless advice it is. Sure it would be nice to pick a great instructor. But how is someone who doesn't know the available instructors, and doesn't have anything like Google ratings to consult, going to judge that? How many people actually have an option to pick any instructor at all, much less a great one?

You make a great point. My take on when I say this is that I’m recommending that a prospective student take the time to check out the options that reasonably work for them to find the best fit for them. It doesn’t necessarily mean finding the “best” instructor but rather the best instructor and program *for them*. Talk to the instructor or shop owner/rep and get a feel for how they run the class. For things like Rescue I’d expect that if they have someone who is an active/recent first responder teaching it for that to come out at some point.

Beyond that, how is the class structured? How much pool time (more is better? ). How much. Classroom? What kinds of things will you do in the checkout dives? What’s the general vibe that you get from the instructor/shop? Will they go thru the class standards and discuss where they will exceed those, or at least bring something unique or interesting to it. Basically let them do the sales pitch.

Finally, what external feedback/review is there? Can you get a referral/recommendation from former students?

Not perfect, but it’s something.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Yeah I agree price is a consideration, however I think both organisations, PADI and SSI are priced pretty similar. I'm leaning towards SSI for some reason.

With regards to instruction, thankfully I've never came across a bad instructor, I'm sure they're out there but in general I don't need to 'gel' with the instructor, I'm more interested in being confident in their ability to deliver what the course states and confidence that they've got the skills and experience to put it across in a competent manner.

One of the things I did when I was teaching was to consider the Rescue Class as not only a class, but a service to divers.

My Rescue Class was roughly 6 hours of classroom, two 2-3 hour pool sessions, and 2 days of open water/onsite training at a local site.

I charged $175.00 for that and would put a class on for two people. It was the only course I lost money on, and I didn't care.

I usually had no problem finding volunteers to play victims. Or the distraught family member yelling at the "Rescue divers" and getting in the way, asking questions, etc.

Many times, those volunteers were former rescue students, tech divers, or dive pros who just wanted to get in the water and have a little fun. There were times when I had a couple of buddy teams for a class and might have made a couple of dollars or at least broke even.
There was always a mix of equipment. Single tank backmount, sidemount, doubles, and once a rebreather diver. Wet and dry suits.

In one class, I used the students to fill in extra info. Those students were an Army combat medic, a pharmacist, and a physician's assistant. All of them generously added real-world info not usually found in a run-of-the-mill class.

One thing I looked into but never worked out how to make it happen was getting a helicopter evac.

I never wanted cost to be a deterrent to someone taking the class.

I taught a few workshops where I only taught the surface part of the class for those who didn't think they could do the full class due to physical limitations. They didn't receive a card, but they learned to spot problems, stress, and anxiety, and how to help someone before they got in the water. That was usually a one-day thing, and we might get in the pool where I would demonstrate a few techniques. I charged 50 for that.

 

[Belzelbub]

Instructor will make the difference. PADI or SSI doesn't really matter. Stop by the shops and talk to the instructors. Go with the one that you like best.

I took mine via SSI. My instructor is the shop owner and I've known him for a while. He trained my daughters in OW, and I also took Deep, Night/Limited Vis, and Navigation from him as well. On the first dive for Deep, I actually got to experience how he would handle a rescue. One of the students had an issue with her regulator that led to her panicking under water, then upon surfacing, she was gasping for breath. He took control of the situation, and everything was so smooth that another instructor from a different shop actually commented to his students that we were doing a Rescue course. When the paramedics showed up, he realized it was an actual rescue.

Anyway, during the course, we were put to work. It was fun, but you also had to be on your toes. He made it clear from the start that we had to be prepared the entire time. Not just while we were in the water, but even during breaks. Never knew what the drill was going to be. That was part of it. We had to figure it out and adapt quickly.

 

[paddydiver]

Hey Folks!

I'm currently looking into the next stage in my diving development and was wondering what your thoughts and experience were on whether to do the PADI Rescue Diver Course or the SSI Stress & Rescue Speciality Course.

I don't currently have any plans to 'Go Pro' but was wondering if one was better than the other, or are they pretty much of a similar standard and viewed in a similar manner?

I'm a PADI AOW diver with Nitrox and an SSI Deep Diver Cert.

Thanks in advance!

I think it's been covered well here.

PADI or SSI, makes no difference. I've taught a good few rescue courses (PADI) and one thing I think people didn't mention in the comments is class size. I always found it a much better course to teach and much better for the students if there are a number of people in the class, 3 or 4 probably optimum. The reason for this is you get to see skills demonstrated numerous times and you get to rescue different people and see people mess up in different ways. It's nice to say find a good experienced Instructor but the reality is you're going to get whoever the shop gives you if doing it on a trip. Ask how many will be on the course.

 

[zllargey]

My instructor for the SSI Stress & Rescue was a PADI crossover to SSI. She pointed out the minor differences in the courses as we went through it and they did seem to be very minor. I've taken 3 PADI specialties and the rest SSI. The only real difference I see is that SSI's online bit is a lot nicer.

Pick a good instructor. My instructor is a paramedic and her assistant in the class is a retired firefighter. So we had some really good extra tips and realistic scenarios based on real world experience that was really helpful. If your options include an instructor who has worked as a first responder - I'd probably lean towards that more than I'd worry about agency differences.

As someone who has done both and is currently PADI, I agree wholeheartedly--the instructor matters more than anything else.