Rescue Diver review poll

How often do you review rescue and CPR skills?

  • I review either academics or practical skills regularly (at least once monthly)

    Votes: 10 11.5%
  • I don't really review much but take refresher courses every 2 years or so

    Votes: 27 31.0%
  • I haven't really reviewed much since I took the courses

    Votes: 40 46.0%
  • I don't really review much because I teach the courses often enough

    Votes: 10 11.5%

  • Total voters
    87

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I'm somewhere between 1 and 2 - not monthly but definitely regularly, and some things more often than others depending on complexity, but none really neglected.
 
I did CPR over six weeks in 1980, and reviewed during the exam, did chest compressions on a dog, with a positive outcome in 2004 but the dog kicked it a few weeks later because if you had problems in the first place you are still going to have problems, unless it is drowning which is different problem, still capable of proficient rescuing today
so without the course but with all the books and all the other books this information is coursing through my veins


Some of the books!

full.jpg
 
I did my Rescue Diver 7 years ago

Was at an inland dive site three months ago, kitting up with the box on my back, just about to grab the fins and start walking over to jump in. Heard something, thought it was 'help'. Hmm, looked around. Then heard it again. Quickly walked over to the edge to see a diver pulling another diver out of the water "up the beach"; loud shouts now and people running over. I still had my box on, so not much use.

Then someone started CPR.

Thank God that the person coughed and spluttered after a minute. Person lived. Rest of the story's irelevant.


I honestly don't think I would have been much use with CPR; my ignorance (if I were the only one around) could have killed that person.

Lesson for me, and I hope others...
I need to take a refresher in the EFR (Emergency First Responder) and need to take that course on a regular basis.


Was trying to book it but for covid. I must not forget.
 
I did CPR over six weeks in 1980, and reviewed during the exam, did chest compressions on a dog, with a positive outcome in 2004 but the dog kicked it a few weeks later because if you had problems in the first place you are still going to have problems, unless it is drowning which is different problem, still capable of proficient rescuing today
so without the course but with all the books and all the other books this information is coursing through my veins


Some of the books!

View attachment 637626
Wow. I've got about 1/8 of one of those piles and thought I was good.
 
@TMHeimer Good posting of an important and personally vital (life saving) topic.

By the way, I am former ski patroller*, and quite familiar with FA & CPR training, and the positive value/benefit of annual hands-on recertifications/refreshers.

This posting topic is especially relevant to my recent quest over the last several months to obtain/renew my FA & CPR certifications, as my previous certifications have lapsed. I have not been able to find any decent classes. I talked to the training director (from xxxx) and explained that I was having a hard time finding a good hands-on coarse without driving 3 hours. She said she had some contacts and promised to get back with me, but never called back and would not return my status inquiry calls.

Yes, I’ve found ways to get certification cards through online classes or hybrid classes that include online and 1-1/2 hours of hands-on through the Red Cross. But, I’m having a hard time believing these coarses will have substitute value without lots of hands-on (except for getting the certification cards).

Today, I found a FA/CPR online coarse that one could read/take which included an online 10 question quiz. I completed it in less than an hour. If I’d paid their fee, I’d have my certification card in 2 to 3 days. (I even found 2 of their answers to questions to be incorrect.). Not for me!!

I’m a little frustrated in finding a worth while FA/CPR class and wonder if anyone has had any recent training experience that you would recommend.

* I was a ski patroller for over 30 years. The ski patrols FA training coarse is 200+ hours long. Patrollers are required annually to complete a 4 to 6 hour FA and CPR refreshers. I’m a strong believer that all adults should, as a minimum, be basic FA & CPR trained and refreshed if they want to be there to help a loved one or friend in serious need.
 
@TMHeimer Good posting of an important and personally vital (life saving) topic.

By the way, I am former ski patroller*, and quite familiar with FA & CPR training, and the positive value/benefit of annual hands-on recertifications/refreshers.

This posting topic is especially relevant to my recent quest over the last several months to obtain/renew my FA & CPR certifications, as my previous certifications have lapsed. I have not been able to find any decent classes. I talked to the training director (from xxxx) and explained that I was having a hard time finding a good hands-on coarse without driving 3 hours. She said she had some contacts and promised to get back with me, but never called back and would not return my status inquiry calls.

Yes, I’ve found ways to get certification cards through online classes or hybrid classes that include online and 1-1/2 hours of hands-on through the Red Cross. But, I’m having a hard time believing these coarses will have substitute value without lots of hands-on (except for getting the certification cards).

Today, I found a FA/CPR online coarse that one could read/take which included an online 10 question quiz. I completed it in less than an hour. If I’d paid their fee, I’d have my certification card in 2 to 3 days. (I even found 2 of their answers to questions to be incorrect.). Not for me!!

I’m a little frustrated in finding a worth while FA/CPR class and wonder if anyone has had any recent training experience that you would recommend.

* I was a ski patroller for over 30 years. The ski patrols FA training coarse is 200+ hours long. Patrollers are required annually to complete a 4 to 6 hour FA and CPR refreshers. I’m a strong believer that all adults should, as a minimum, be basic FA & CPR trained and refreshed if they want to be there to help a loved one or friend in serious need.
Thanks. The poll is of course based on my own way of thinking. I checked the first choice, because without regular review, my certs. would be worthless with my memory. I also review about 650 words in Spanish that I began to look up in 2003. I go over half of them each day. Since there are no Spanish speaking people to speak of in our area, this is the only way I would ever remember them. Came in handy in Panama on a dive trip 10 years ago.
I figure a lot of people have much better memories than I, so such regular review of these skills may not be necessary.

I mentioned in another thread that I was shown how to assemble the Oxygen kit once in the Rescue course and once again in the DM course. I had taken Rescue 3 years earlier, but the other 3 DMCs had only taken it 2-3 months before. None of us put the O2 bottle together perfectly. So I asked the shop owner to show me again, this time writing each step down. I review that once weekly, otherwise, for ME, putting it together twice successfully would mean nothing. That is how I view someone who takes the CPR course every 2 years but doesn't crack the book in between. But as I said, what works for others may not work for me. Doing CPR, administering O2 and speaking Spanish are things I never do in my everyday life. Granted, CPR skills aren't rocket science. Rescue skills are quite a bit more complicated, but for simplicity I linked them together.
 
Wow. I've got about 1/8 of one of those piles and thought I was good.

Well here's another 1/8th I'm no book aficionado mate most of this stuff is second hand

full.jpg


if $1000 course money equals 20-40 boat dives or 100-200 shore dives never could I justify

full.jpg


I just learn what's inside some of them jump in my pool and after a while I pass myself



I just did not want to afford to be talked at out of another book from a lectern by whom
 
For those of you comfortable with basic first aid, CPR/AED use, let's take it a step further: can you explain the pathophysiology behind a DCI or similar event you'd have to deal with?

When I first was learning nitrox, I had a medical question I'm not sure I ever found a direct answer for: Say someone got hit with CNS oxtox. Do you give them O2 at the surface as part of treatment, or is it contraindicated given the nature of the event?
I don't know, so it's probably time for me to do some review.
 
For those of you comfortable with basic first aid, CPR/AED use, let's take it a step further: can you explain the pathophysiology behind a DCI or similar event you'd have to deal with?

When I first was learning nitrox, I had a medical question I'm not sure I ever found a direct answer for: Say someone got hit with CNS oxtox. Do you give them O2 at the surface as part of treatment, or is it contraindicated given the nature of the event?
I don't know, so it's probably time for me to do some review.
A good question.

As a rule of thumb, and as laypersons, we cannot definitively diagnose a CNS hit, even if evidence suggests this is likely to be the case. Therefore we would normally treat most diving incidents as a suspected DCI and administer primary and secondary first aid and O2, whilst waiting for professional medical assistance to arrive.

The key consideration with a suspected CNS hit underwater are convulsions, leading to drowning. Out of water convulsions are not a major concern. Furthermore, as the ambient pressure on the surface is 1bar, 100% O2 will only result in a maximum PPo2 of 1bar, well within acceptable limits.

I will of course defer to my learned medical professionals, but this is my understanding. On the rare occasion I have had to administer O2, I know my adrenaline is pumping and things get hectic very quickly. The less I need to second-guess my actions the better.

In answer to earlier concerns about getting stuck in, remember if someone ain't breathing you really can't make things worse. Whether you end up doing 25 or 35 compressions and 1 or 3 breaths rather than the recommended 30:2, really doesn't matter.

Back on topic, I'd thoroughly recommend a refresher once in a while, regardless of whether you're a diver or not. It can really help to re-instill someone's confidence. As a society we need more people willing to help, not less. Even if it's only with basic, rudimentary skills.
 
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