Check-out dive. Medical form?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

daniel1948

ScubaBoard Supporter
ScubaBoard Supporter
Messages
439
Reaction score
58
Location
Spokane, WA
# of dives
100 - 199
It's been a few years since I've dived. I guess I've just been doing other activities instead. So I know that next time I dive (dive trip upcoming) I'll have to take a check-out/refresher dive. I have no problem with this, and will request it even if they don't require it. I'll be diving with a PADI dive outfit.

My question is, will I be asked to fill out the medical questionnaire, the same as if I was taking a course? I ask because I take prescription meds. Nothing even remotely relevant to diving, but if you take any prescription meds they ask for a doctor's statement that you are fit for diving, so if I'm going to need that I want to be prepared. I am not asked to fill out the questionnaire for a normal diving trip, and I'm wondering if I'll have to do so for a check-out/refresher dive after a few years of no diving.

Thanks.
 
There is no one correct answer to your question.

"Courses" require the release if "yes" is answered. Will your checkout/refresher be a formal course? Regardless of the answer, if the operator requires the medical for any reason, you will have to deal with it.

The only "correct" answer is to contact the operator(s) you plan on using and ask. After all, it will be their requirement.

As a routine, I always get my physician to fill out the release during an annual physical. I keep a copy and it goes with me when I travel. That way I have no concerns what so ever.
 
Last edited:
I agree with Daniel,

We just returned from a trip to Sandals in Jamaica and although we were still current they requested a medical form from us. So its possible wherever you go you may require one.
 
Ditto. The benefit to you is understanding the impacts diving may have on you with your meds. I have my Dr sign off each year for me. Each dive op may have different requirements.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
To complete a PADI SCUBA Review you are normally asked to fill in a medical, as it is an 'inwater' activity. The following is taken from the general Standards and Procedures section of the current PADI instructor manual:

"At the beginning of the course (and before any inwater activities), have student divers review, complete and sign:
• PADI Release of Liability/Assumption of Risk/NonagencyAcknowledgment Form – General Trainingor PADI Statement of Risk and Liability/Non agency Acknowledgment Form – General Training, EU Version
• PADI Standard Safe Diving Practices Statement ofUnderstanding
• PADI Medical Statement (RSTC Medical form)

Exceptions: Courses with no inwater activities, certain continuingeducation courses (listed below), and programs that have course-specific
forms (such as Discover/Experience/TecRec programs). An Adventure Divecompleted on the same day as Open Water Diver course Dive 4 is coveredby the Open Water Diver course documentation."

Although this could be open to interpretation of whether the SCUBA Review is a course or not, most centres will ask you to fill one out, purely because your medical situation may have changed since certification.
 
If you are taking your refresher course through a PADI program, yes you will need to have your doctor pre-sign a PADI Medical form. With rare exceptions instructors are not medical professional and are not qualified to make medical judgement calls. So who do you really want to make the decision if you are medically safe to dive or which medicines are safe to dive with, your personal medical professional, who knows you, or the instructor you just met?
 
Thanks everyone for all your replies. I will ask my doctor to fill out the permission form before my dive trip.
 
Because we are both over 45 we get our doctor to sign the rstc form and my wife has to do a peak flow test as she is a smoker, this is also done by our family doctor. I always take out insurance with the post office but asked DAN and they said while the form is fine they require it to be signed by a doctor qualified in diving medicine?
 

Back
Top Bottom