PADI Rescue Diver Course

The PADI rescue diver course introduces you to various diving related emergencies and encourages you to apply solution thinking to these situations in order to handle them. The training covers basic life support and first aid, how to recognize potentially hazardous situations, ways to prevent or control them and how to respond effectively to diver emergencies. You’ll learn a whole variety of new skills and techniques and practice using emergency rescue equipment and protocols to manage a diving accident situation. It’s an intense course but also exciting and a lot of fun, especially if you’re part of a group going through the training together. Most people who have been through this experience have cited the PADI rescue diver course as being one of the most worthwhile pursuits in scuba diving.

The PADI Rescue Diver course is a 4 day program during which we build systematically on the skills you already know and prepare you for a final scenario day during which it’s up to you to demonstrate how well you can apply your training to simulated emergency situations.

What’s involved?

·       Day 1 – The rescue Diver course goes hand in surgical glove with basic life support training such as CPR and shock management etc. You also parctice secondary care skills such as bandaging and splinting. On your first day you’ll learn all of these fundamental skills by participating in an Emergency First Response course (EFR) which in itself is a certifiable program. The program follows the same emergency first aid protocols used by emergency medical services so you’ll get to know how to asses a victims lifeline and provide them with the essential care that they need. For more detailed information about the EFR course visit the “First Aid Course” section of our website.

·       Day 2 – We’re back in the classroom this time to watch the Rescue diver video and to go over the knowledge reviews from your participant manual. We’ll also be discussing diving accident management and how to respond to specifically diving related emergencies. You and your classmates will be working together to come up with an emergency action plan, specific to the local area environment, which you’ll be needing as a reference in the latter stages of the course. You’ll also get to grips with industry standard emergency equipment such as oxygen units, first aid kits, in water rescue breathing aids and emergency flotation aids.

·       Day 3 – Armed with all of this excellent knowledge we head outdoors to put it into practice. The session begins with a self help review covering some of the basic skills that you learned during your open water course such as cramp release and how to react to an out of air situation. Thereafter we get into the meaty bit of the training, simulating tired and panicked diver rescues, dealing with aquatic life injuries and how to respond to a situation from a variety of different vantage points. One of the toughest skills you learn is how to deal with an unresponsive or unconscious diver, transporting them to safety whilst providing them with rescue breaths. It’s challenging for sure but don’t forget that we’re not looking for perfection just your best effort. We’ll be there to guide you through it and it helps to remember that there’s never only one right way to perform a rescue.

·       Day 4 – From here onwards it’s up to you to apply your training to some simulated emergency scenarios. What happens exactly is a closely guarded secret save to say that you’ll need to keep your wits about you and work closely as a team. The scenarios are meant to prompt you to take action according to the accident management skills that you’ve learned and practiced. It’s a day of fun and excitement but also an opportunity to reflect on how you might really react if the need should arise. By the end of it you’ll have the deep satisfaction of knowing that you’ve achieved something extraordinary!