Duration
4.5 days
Frequency
3 courses per year
Location
Institute of Naval Medicine
IELTS
7
Aim
The primary mission of the course is to train Service Medical Officers and Civilian Medical Practitioners (CMP) on the medical standards for Military Occupational Diving and Service Recreational Diving.
A secondary objective for the course is to give Medical Officers and CMPs a working knowledge of:
- The tasks and equipment associated with the missions of military divers.
- The physics and physiology of diving.
- The spectrum of diving-related injuries and illnesses.
- The management principles of diving-related injuries.
- The basic principles of decompression theory and non-diving hyperbaric medicine.
- A basic understanding of the relevant UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulations influencing UK Military Diving policies and procedures.
Course details
Topics covered include:
- Basic introduction to diving.
- Physics and physiology of diving.
- Medical problems associated with diving (Decompression Illness and Barotrauma).
- Medical fitness standards for military occupational diving and recreational diving.
- Injuries requiring recompression therapy and Recompression Treatment Tables.
- Physiological and pathological effects of gases.
- Introduction to Commercial Diving.
- Pathology of Diving Accidents.
- Thermal aspects of diving.
- Familiarisation with Pulmonary Function Testing standards.
- Comparison of military diving standards with commercial diving standards.
- Introduction to Marine Biohazards.
- Submarine Escape and Rescue systems and Submarine Medical Standards.
Requirements
- Must be a qualified Medical Officer (Service Medical Officer, Civilian Medical.
- Practitioner, Non-MOD employed civilian doctors, Allied Forces MedicalOfficers).
- Candidates should be those involved and interested in the medical aspects of diving.
- The course is taught in English. Students should have a solid foundation in communicating in the English language (also see IELTS requirement).
Qualifications gained
- Level 1 Certificate awarded on successful completion of all aspects of the course including a multiple choice examination.
- Level 1 certificate authorises the graduate to perform diving medical examinations for UK Service Occupational Divers.
- Successful completion of this course is recognised by the Health and Safety.
- Executive (HSE) toward the Authorised Medical Examiner of Divers (AMED) qualification, which requires a separate application to the HSE.