What do you do in the Rescue Class

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Scubamike16

Contributor
Messages
71
Reaction score
3
Location
Long Beach, CA.
# of dives
200 - 499
Hello,

I have decided to take the PADI Rescue Diver Class. I was wondering what exercises above and below water I will have to perform. Any help / insight on what I will have to demonstrate / perform would be helpful.

Thank you all again,
M
 
Well, at least in ours, we practiced such things as air-sharing ascents, dropping weights, approaching a panicked diver, and retrieving an unconscious diver. In addition, we discussed accident PREVENTION, surface strategies for rescue, and getting an incapacitated diver out of the water. That last was the most difficult part of the class for me.
 
I am doing the first part of the classes for PADI rescue tomorrow, and will be doing 5 evenings worth of clasroom work and pool dives over the next 2 weeks. We should be doing the open water portion on the 16-17th of this months. PM me in a few days if you want some specifics.
 
In the pool
Exercise 1 – Tired Diver
Exercise 2 – Panicked Diver
Exercise 3 – Response from shore, boat or dock (responsive diver)
Exercise 4 – Distressed Diver Underwater
Exercise 5 – Missing Diver
Exercise 6 – Surfacing the Unresponsive Diver
Exercise 7 – Unresponsive Diver at the Surface
Exercise 8 – Exiting the Unresponsive Diver
Exercise 9 – First Aid for Pressure-Related Injuries and Oxygen Administration
Exercise 10 – Response from Shore/Boat to Unresponsive (nonbreathing) Diver at the Surface

In open water you will have two scenarios.
Scenario 1 – Unresponsive Diver Underwater
Scenario 2 – Unresponsive Diver at the Surface

Hopefully they discuss prevention as TS&M mentioned...should start in excercise one and continue through the course.
 
Mostly you learn that BCD 's with integrated weights sink to the bottom if the person removing your gear forgets to inflate it. (since we only simulated ditching the weights) :shocked2:

Then you learn some search and recovery.:D

The next exercise teaches you that not everyone completely understood the previous lesson ....and you repeat the sequence. :bash:
 
As Scott has outlined. My course wasn't neatly structured like that - some of the exercises were like 'this is how you do this, now practice it, good you've got it' and others were 'oh look - there's a distressed diver off the dock!' (one of the divemasters is roleplaying, but you weren't supposed to be expecting it and you respond as if it's a real situation). We also went on some 'lets just go for a dive' and then things were sprung on me underwater - 'narked' diver, unresponsive diver at bottom etc.

Having had the odd minor mishap the course made me feel a lot more confident in the water and am pleased to have learned techniques for handling panicked divers, unresponsive divers etc. I am used to responding to emergencies in my everyday professional life however so the thought of emergency situations doesn't really phase me too much - if you're not used to that, I think it's even more invaluable to prepare yourself for the adrenaline/panic of such a potential scenario.

Have fun!
 
I wish I had taken either of those courses....mine was one class day, one pool day and one dive. Though I feel I learned some things, once again I am disappointed with another professionally taught class. I have used two agencies and four different instructors, so far the only class I walked out of and felt like I had come away more prepared and solidly versed in practical usage of the material was my Nitrox class. The vast majority of what I know now I have learned on my own and from other divers I have met along the way.
 
i recently spoke with the instructor that i've chosen to take rescue with (march '11) and he also is the instructor for most of the local search / rescue teams.

i'm really excited because in addition to the fundamentals required by the padi course, he also runs a complete rescue scenario for each person in the class. iow, if there's 6 people in the course, we do each exercise 6 times with each person switching roles (rescuee, 911 caller, O2, cpr, swimmers, divers etc). i assume this will take a hell of a lot of time, but he assured me that i'll be really prepared for a LOT of situations.

i wanted to find a fairly difficult course/ instructor for this particular cert....and it looks like i have.
 
It's a good course. I think the more unstructured it is the better (as long as it's structured in the instructors mind)!
 

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