Emergency First Response

[SubMariner]

Yup.. transplanted here for 5 years this year!

Was or is MFA recognized in the USA---along the same lines as the discussion about recognition in Canada?

I checked on this with my CD (fellow Canuck & husband) and apparently MFA was not sanctioned for use in the workplace in the US for the same reasons that it wasn't in Canada: PADI's licensing agreement with EMP precluded it.

As I understand it, now that PADI has their own CPR/1st aid program, they will be seeking OSHA (Occupational Health & Safety Administration) approval for it.

~SubMariner~

 

[AquaTec]

What is reconized.???? ---- in Canada

I have several first aid tickets, and i am a 1st aid instructor in some. the reason i have several is because one agency/organization doesn't reconize the others.

Fire Department reconizes only Medic First Aid taught by the Justice Institute....not PADI
Ski Patrol reconizes only Outdor .....[can't remember the name right now
Construction site 1st aid/WCB reconizes Ocupational 1st aid only
Search and Rescue is St, Johns
PADI will only let you get an instructors in MFA if you took the student level MFA..even if you are an instructor for other agencies.

none of the above will acept the other as an equal


the list goes on and on and on so what is reconition anyways

 

[gjmmotors]

Last time I checked the padi program did not include any clinical practice. Would I trust someone to work on me if all they had were a padi card, and the class taught by a non-healthcare person?
I am a firm believer in the lack of training involved in a PADI class, any run of the mill idiot can pass it as long as they pay.

As a nationally registered EMT-B, I spent over 120 hours in class and clinical work. I also carry my own malpractice insurance. My health care provider CPR and AED cert was over 8 hours long.
Every 3 years I am required to re-cert for emt-b and take the required CME classes.

As compared to a padi MFA, who would you rather work on you?

gjm
(big anti-padi advocate)

 

[norcaldiver]

sombody call the WHAAAAmbulance.

can i see the big red S on your chest?

personally? I'd rather have the closest buy to me work on me. I don't care if he/she is red cross, green cross, a full fledged paramedic, or just some guy that watches ER every week and thinks he can do it. you better start stomping on my chest til the medics get there.

 

[bwerb]

gjmmotors once bubbled...
Last time I checked the padi program did not include any clinical practice. Would I trust someone to work on me if all they had were a padi card, and the class taught by a non-healthcare person?

gjm
(big anti-padi advocate)

I think I would be dead by the time you got to me if no one around me was full paramedic trained and therefore "not qualified" to start performing CPR.

The purpose of the PADI or any other "layperson" first aid class is not to create masses of paramedics but to teach people on the scene to do UNTIL YOU arrive. At the same time they are taught that they CAN make a real difference in life and death and that you can do something instead of just standing there staring at the victim waiting for help to arrive. I believe the statistics on CPR success have greatly improved with the addition of AED training (my numbers aren't exact but it was somewhere in the neighborhood of going from 35% success to 80% success).

Personally, I'll take those odds while waiting, as long as someone isn't going to start cracking chests and putting in chest tubes.

 

[gjmmotors]

norcaldiver once bubbled...
sombody call the WHAAAAmbulance.

can i see the big red S on your chest?

personally? I'd rather have the closest buy to me work on me. I don't care if he/she is red cross, green cross, a full fledged paramedic, or just some guy that watches ER every week and thinks he can do it. you better start stomping on my chest til the medics get there.

<start sarcasm>
And I assume if that person that started to "stomp " on your chest, and succeded to keep you alive but did further harm to you, You wouldnt have him in court.(Cause we know that nobody sues in this nation.) But your honor, I saw them do it on E.R.!
<end sarcasm>
If you go above your training and cause further harm to a person you are liable. And I bet that somewhere there is a lawyer that would jump at a chance to take the victims case and your money. Good Sammy acts are not like grandmas nightshirt. They wont cover your butt if you mess up.

But because Im "superman" ive got that amazing ability to fly, id go ahead and fly you to the nearest level 1 trauma center so that you may survive. Using the ambulance would only waste my super powers.

I may have missed the whole point the thread was trying to establish. But my statements were not to say I am superior to anyone on this board. But if your going to train to help someone do something where you will actually learn the procedures for PHTLS. Or even just CPR/AED. Maybe the accident wont be dive related. You may just save someone in your own family. Or a person in the market.
Just because you have a C-Card doesent mean your the ultimate, supreme, god-like diver.
"Its Okay folks I learned how to do this while watching Baywatch, oops I mean at my LDS.
Save someones life and get back to me.

-bwerb said,
"I think I would be dead by the time you got to me if no one around me was full paramedic trained and therefore "not qualified" to start performing CPR."

Paramedics are few and far between at dive sites. But wouldnt you like to know that if something did go sour that you or your buddy would be capable of saving each other or someone else? Maybe a PADI course would teach you the skills neccessary. However, I have seen many PADI divers and I wouldnt even dive with them. Let alone save me.
American Heart Association or Red Cross are perfect places to go and learn CPR/AED. The LDS is where you go to learn to blow bubbles.


-gjm
"My C-Card says superman"

 

[icediver]

GTADiver once bubbled...
Is there a minimum age on the EFR course?

NO there is NO minimum age.

 

[icediver]

So what you are saying is a paremidic makes a better diver?

Lets face it. Diving skills have nothing to do with life saving skills. So to say you wouldn't want what you call a poor diver to save you is BS.

 

[gjmmotors]

icediver once bubbled...
So what you are saying is a paremidic makes a better diver?

Lets face it. Diving skills have nothing to do with life saving skills. So to say you wouldn't want what you call a poor diver to save you is BS.

No, What I said is:

"American Heart Association or Red Cross are perfect places to go and learn CPR/AED. The LDS is where you go to learn to blow bubbles."

I also compared to diving skills taught at a diving shop, to what they would teach as first aid.
Although a paramedic with dive experience would make a great person to help out at a dive accident, just saying a paramedic would make a good diver is incorrect and I never said that.
And bad diving skills are a direct correlation to the training the person was given.

-gjm

 

[Waterborne]

I am all for a first aid program, no matter who the teaching organization is. The only real problem I have with it is the use of the automatic external defribrilators. (AED) These machines are very easy to use but they are contraindicated near water. I don't now about you , but I'm NOT going to be standing anywhere near a first responder that pulls a sopping wet diver out of the water and starts shocking away. First aid and CPR classes are a great idea but leave the medicine and edison to the professionals.