Folks,
I've taken quite a few (eight seperate courses) in emergency response, first aid, and sustained aid. I haven't yet taken a rescue diver course, so I cannot speak to the diving related aspects, but I did take one of the dive agency's first response course and I would not suggest it to anyone.
One thing these agency type courses rely on is an assumption that if you're on a boat, then the boat staff is properly trained, and that if you're shore diving you're close to an emergency room.
As a boater, camper, hiker, hunter, fisher and diver, and part time outdoor educator up here in the land of the moose, my experience has been that you are not usually close to either ambulance services or an emergency room, and in merely stabilizing and seeking care, the mantra of most of these short courses, may not be sufficient.
That doesn't mean that every outdoor junkie needs to bea fully trained EMT, but possessing some more advanced training certaintly wouldnpt hurt in a situatoin like being two to three hours off shore, or a day or two back in the bush.
Here's an example of the type of courses that I have taken followed by the basic Red Cross course. Compare the two and you'll see the difference.
http://www.wildernessfirstaid.ca/courses_essential_first_aid.htm
http://www.wildernessfirstaid.ca/courses_advanced_first_aid.htm
http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=000637&tid=021
PfcAJ
I too generally would stay away from administering meds unless the patient is able to tell me either through communication or a medic alert any allergies they have. the meds I carry in my bag are for MY use, and a card in my first aid kit tells someone who may be using my kit on me, what meds they can give me.....the epi for example.
Cheers