Would you accept O2 without qualification?

[jbd]

There is another thread running discussing whether or not you would dive on a boat that did not have O2 available.

It was then commented that you should not administer O2 without being qualified.



I have seen a lot of different manuals covering O2 application and didn't see any situation where the risks of applying the O2 would be greater than the risks of not applying it in an apparent DCS situation.

So the question is:
If you had just come out of the water and taken a hit, would you accept O2 from a non-qualified person if there was an O2 cylinder available?

I would.

Indeed if I needed O2 I would take it from whatever source and whomever was offering it. I don't really see what there is to qualifying to administer O2. :06:

Certainly as scuba divers we are accustomed to working with high pressure cylinders. We know how to put regulators on them. I guess since I administered O2 for 20 years without any special certification I don't see the point. As GoBlue! pointed out there are some COPD patients that you need to be careful about but they, for the most part, won't be diving anyways.

I would like to hear from any O2 instructors about the course material and standards for certification.

 

[ScubaNorth]

Yeah I'm gonna have to go ahead and say give me the O2. Yeah Thanks. :bgmad:

 

[alcina]

Honey, if I suspected I needed it and the only one on board to turn the dial was a monkey, I'd take it! I would not dive on a charter dive boat that did not have oxygen available.

 

[Seabear70]

Seriously, we have 4 no's, and no one wants to give a reason?

Is it religous or something? Or do you have something that we may need to know?

 

[lamont]

Indeed if I needed O2 I would take it from whatever source and whomever was offering it. I don't really see what there is to qualifying to administer O2. :06:

Certainly as scuba divers we are accustomed to working with high pressure cylinders. We know how to put regulators on them. I guess since I administered O2 for 20 years without any special certification I don't see the point. As GoBlue! pointed out there are some COPD patients that you need to be careful about but they, for the most part, won't be diving anyways.

I would like to hear from any O2 instructors about the course material and standards for certification.

The reason to get certified is so that you know what masks to use on which patients (conscious vs. not conscious) and how to give rescue breathing assisted by O2. The regs are also slightly different, and you want to know what lpm flow rates to use.

(not an O2 instructor, just recently O2 certified...)

 

[Paul Evans]

Oh.................. Yes please

Just to support what String said, If your a UK diver, DO NOT TAKE entonox, or let a ambulance or Paramedic give a diver in this poistion entonox.

This is not to be confused with Nitrox, if you have Nitrox and no O2...... Use it, assumming the recipiant is in a position to take it.

I'am doing De-fib training in the next couple of weeks, already HSE First Aid, soon doing O2 administration.

I always have a first aid kit with me when me & Mrs Mares go diving. There is no excuse not to

And NO it isn't made by MARES

 

[Wildcard]

Effects of free radicals at the cellular level are far from being understood. There is a LOT of active research going on in the area; far from "dismissed." Bottom line for now, however, is that oxygen should not be withheld in the scenarios we're discussing!

Jim

I think you misunderstood. I was dismissing the poor report that wanted us to limit the use of O2 in AMI and CVA based on a single study.

 

[DeepBlueResort]

Without question all i would say is, 'GIVE ME OXYGEN'

 

[GoBlue!]

I think you misunderstood. I was dismissing the poor report that wanted us to limit the use of O2 in AMI and CVA based on a single study.

Ah hah! Yep, I did misunderstand. Thanks for the clarification.

By the way, if anyone's on a dive boat & I need oxygen, but you can't remember what liters/min to use, please just use "lots."

Jim

 

[cornfed]

I'm curious about that. I'm actually DAN O2 certified, but haven't ever heard of contraindications to giving O2.

Giving oxygen to someone with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can supress their respiratory drive. The urge to breath in normal healthy individuals (ie people medically qualified to dive) is triggered by CO2 levels. However someone with COPD is triggered to breath by changing levels of oxygen. The result problem with this is if you put them on high concentration of O2 the patient may "forget" to breath and passout. That said, this is still not a contraindication to giving them O2. You just have to pay more attention to them. But as others have mentioned someone with COPD shouldn't be diving in the first place so you need not worry about it.