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Medical assessment of fitness to dive. Part II
Affiliations- Polish Society of Hyperbaric Medicine and Technique, Gdynia, Poland
- Department of Epidemiology and Tropical Medicine, Military Institute of Medicine, Warsaw, Poland
- Department of Occupational, Metabolic and Internal Diseases, Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Gdansk, Poland
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Abstract
Good physical and mental health is a prerequisite for anyone planning to scuba dive. A certificate of fitness to dive for those willing to enter a scuba diving course as well as for active divers, either amateur or occupational, can only be issued if there are no medical contraindications to dive. It is usually within the competence of a diving instructor, a manager of underwater work or a physician to assess a person’s mental and physical health and grant them permission to stay under hyperbaric conditions. The legal requirements for issuing a certificate of fitness to dive are different for recreational and occupational divers. The part II of this article discusses the issues concerning medical assessment of fitness to dive for professionals, and divers in uniformed services. It also discusses contraindications to scuba diving and guidelines for medical assessment of fitness to dive in divers with a history of a diving-related condition.
Abstract
Good physical and mental health is a prerequisite for anyone planning to scuba dive. A certificate of fitness to dive for those willing to enter a scuba diving course as well as for active divers, either amateur or occupational, can only be issued if there are no medical contraindications to dive. It is usually within the competence of a diving instructor, a manager of underwater work or a physician to assess a person’s mental and physical health and grant them permission to stay under hyperbaric conditions. The legal requirements for issuing a certificate of fitness to dive are different for recreational and occupational divers. The part II of this article discusses the issues concerning medical assessment of fitness to dive for professionals, and divers in uniformed services. It also discusses contraindications to scuba diving and guidelines for medical assessment of fitness to dive in divers with a history of a diving-related condition.
Keywords
diving, health assessment, medical contraindications
About this articleTitle
Medical assessment of fitness to dive. Part II
Journal
Issue
Article type
Review article
Pages
115-120
Published online
2021-06-28
Page views
863
Article views/downloads
869
DOI
Pubmed
Bibliographic record
IMH 2021;72(2):115-120.
Keywords
diving
health assessment
medical contraindications
Authors
Jarosław Krzyżak
Krzysztof Korzeniewski
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