Last Saturday (4/19/03), I took the new EFR Instructor Course.
The new material is interesting, to say the least.
Background:
EFR is PADI's new first aid course. It has been recognized by several agencies, including the Coast Guard. Not surprisingly, it also satisfies the requirements for PADI Rescue Diver.
I'm a PADI DM with about 2 weeks left until I finish AI. I'm certified as an MFA provider, O2 Provider, AED User and have taken DAN's Hazardous Marine Life course. I've also taken advanced First Aid courses and had additional training in the U.S. Army.
One new and significant addition to the old MFA curriculum is DM's and AI's can become EFR Instructors.
The instructor course must be taught by an insured, teaching status PADI Course Director.
I took my course with Ralph Giglio at Regional Scuba in Newburgh, NY. He is a very good trainer.
The Course.
I arrived on Friday night. We started at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday night. We finished about 11 hours later. There is a written final. In addition, instructor trainees must teach 2 skills at role model demonstration quality.
The major theme of the course is that appropriate care delivered promptly is better than perfect care withheld. In other words, we are supposed to encourage students to react within the limits of their training by doing something, rather than standing by and refusing to administer care because they might not provide perfect care.
EFR can be broken down into two sections. The first section involves treatment of life threatening injuries. That's where the students are taught to assess a situation, activate EMS, establish and maintain an airway, check for breathing and perform rescue breaths, check for circulation and provide one rescurer CPR, treat serious bleeding and shock and react to spinal injuries.
This section assumes that EMS has been activated and is on the way.
The second section of the course is Secondary Care. The students are taught to assess non life threatening injuries or illnesses and deal with splinting. AED's and continuous flow oxygen are also covered.
The second section assumes that EMS is unavailable or has been delayed.
Opinion:
My instructor trainer was excellent. He has really bought off on PADI's prescriptive teaching method, which works if you have motivated students. I'm not sure that I'll use it when I teach, but it did work for an instructor level course.
The breadth of skills taught is adequate. Personally, I thought that the course was a little to basic. In particular, it didn't cover burns, poison, neurological evaluations for DCS and embolisms, certain immobilization techniques (neck collars, SAM splints, etc...), the use of a stethescope and blood pressure cuffs and special techniques for infants and children. Tourniquets have been dropped entirely, although I believe that this is an industry trend). Similarly, lack of a carotid pulse is no longer required prior to administering CPR (turns out most people can't find it anyway).
EFR emphases the provision of adequate, rather than perfect, care, This emphasis on actually convincing students to perform first aid is undoubtedly a good idea, so long as the proper standards are maintained and strictly evaluated.
Overall, I was pleased with the course and would recommend it to DM's, AI's and crossover instructors.
The new material is interesting, to say the least.
Background:
EFR is PADI's new first aid course. It has been recognized by several agencies, including the Coast Guard. Not surprisingly, it also satisfies the requirements for PADI Rescue Diver.
I'm a PADI DM with about 2 weeks left until I finish AI. I'm certified as an MFA provider, O2 Provider, AED User and have taken DAN's Hazardous Marine Life course. I've also taken advanced First Aid courses and had additional training in the U.S. Army.
One new and significant addition to the old MFA curriculum is DM's and AI's can become EFR Instructors.
The instructor course must be taught by an insured, teaching status PADI Course Director.
I took my course with Ralph Giglio at Regional Scuba in Newburgh, NY. He is a very good trainer.
The Course.
I arrived on Friday night. We started at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday night. We finished about 11 hours later. There is a written final. In addition, instructor trainees must teach 2 skills at role model demonstration quality.
The major theme of the course is that appropriate care delivered promptly is better than perfect care withheld. In other words, we are supposed to encourage students to react within the limits of their training by doing something, rather than standing by and refusing to administer care because they might not provide perfect care.
EFR can be broken down into two sections. The first section involves treatment of life threatening injuries. That's where the students are taught to assess a situation, activate EMS, establish and maintain an airway, check for breathing and perform rescue breaths, check for circulation and provide one rescurer CPR, treat serious bleeding and shock and react to spinal injuries.
This section assumes that EMS has been activated and is on the way.
The second section of the course is Secondary Care. The students are taught to assess non life threatening injuries or illnesses and deal with splinting. AED's and continuous flow oxygen are also covered.
The second section assumes that EMS is unavailable or has been delayed.
Opinion:
My instructor trainer was excellent. He has really bought off on PADI's prescriptive teaching method, which works if you have motivated students. I'm not sure that I'll use it when I teach, but it did work for an instructor level course.
The breadth of skills taught is adequate. Personally, I thought that the course was a little to basic. In particular, it didn't cover burns, poison, neurological evaluations for DCS and embolisms, certain immobilization techniques (neck collars, SAM splints, etc...), the use of a stethescope and blood pressure cuffs and special techniques for infants and children. Tourniquets have been dropped entirely, although I believe that this is an industry trend). Similarly, lack of a carotid pulse is no longer required prior to administering CPR (turns out most people can't find it anyway).
EFR emphases the provision of adequate, rather than perfect, care, This emphasis on actually convincing students to perform first aid is undoubtedly a good idea, so long as the proper standards are maintained and strictly evaluated.
Overall, I was pleased with the course and would recommend it to DM's, AI's and crossover instructors.
