Survival rate of divers getting air embolisms or DCS?

[NudeDiver]

if the victim arrives at the Chamber without a pulse, chances are that the victim/body will be transported from the Chamber after treatment without a pulse. . .

That's an important safety tip

On a related note - I got a tour of a local hyberbaric facility here recently. The subject of dive accidents came up of course, and the guys at the facility stated that you would not be transported from a dive site directly to the chamber. You would go to the ER first - and only after a doctor prescribed hyberbaric treatment for you would you THEN be transported to their facility.

So - this being the case, I don't think the ER would send you to the hyberbaric facility without a pulse. I'm pretty sure they would try to make sure you had a pulse before leaving the ER - and probably were stable enough to transfer to another facility - but I'm not a doctor so I guess I don't really know for sure. I also don't know if the same rules would apply to people in other states - except that the facility guys indicated that a doctor HAS to proscribe hyperbaric treatment before it can be undertaken - I would think that would be true in other states.

I guess the difference is whether a facility has an on-staff doctor who can order that treatment him/herself. The one I visited did not. On that note - something to consider if you are developing an emergency action plan (listen up, RD students!) is whether you should take a victim to the ER or to a chamber, and whether you can even take a person to the chamber yourself, or if they (because they have no doctor) will tell you to go to the ER first.

 

[Kevrumbo]

That's an important safety tip

On a related note - I got a tour of a local hyberbaric facility here recently. The subject of dive accidents came up of course, and the guys at the facility stated that you would not be transported from a dive site directly to the chamber. You would go to the ER first - and only after a doctor prescribed hyberbaric treatment for you would you THEN be transported to their facility.

So - this being the case, I don't think the ER would send you to the hyberbaric facility without a pulse. I'm pretty sure they would try to make sure you had a pulse before leaving the ER - and probably were stable enough to transfer to another facility - but I'm not a doctor so I guess I don't really know for sure.

It depends . . .in an obvious emergency --for example, a diver recovered on the surface, unconscious and going into full cardiorespiratory arrest-- the standard operating procedure here is a Coast Guard helo evac to the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber (which happens to be an extension of LA County/Univ. of Southern Calif. General Hospital's Emergency Room on the mainland). The Emergency Physician who also is a specialist in Hyperbaric Medicine is flown from the mainland (Downtown LA) to oversee the treatment.