Hi SD fans, and welcome back to the channel. As regular viewers will know,
we periodically link up with our friends from Divers Alert Network to provide useful information
to divers of all levels of experience, and in this video, I’ll be looking at chambers,
or more specifically, why DAN doesn’t share chamber locations or availability.
This month’s videos are sponsored by Seiko, who have been producing high-quality dive
watches since 1965 and pioneered many features we see as commonplace today.
As you can well imagine, DAN frequently consults on the care, transportation and hyperbaric
treatment of injured divers, however, one question that often is arises is ‘why does Divers Alert
Network not generally provide information about the location or availability of chambers’. Well,
in a nutshell, this is because injured divers with suspected decompression illness, or DCI,
need to be evaluated at a hospital or emergency clinic first.
DAN have many case studies where divers have driven past healthcare facilities
to get to a recompression chamber, wrongly believing a chamber was the
solution for just about any malady or injury. Even when divers surface with symptoms of an
apparent arterial gas embolism, the best course of action is to have the diver
assessed at the closest medical facility. An urgent care clinic or a hospital’s emergency
department is better than a dedicated chamber facility as a first port of call.
The best option for an injured diver is always to use the best locally
available medical services, for many reasons.  One, A differential diagnosis comes first.
Not everything that can happen to a
diver warrants hyperbaric treatment.  Two, A physician needs to rule out
illnesses such as heart attack and other neurological and musculoskeletal injuries
that could be confused with decompression illness.  Three, Advanced diagnostic procedures will rule
out complications (such as a collapsed lung) and other additional factors that could make
recompression therapy inappropriate or dangerous.  And four, A physician needs to make
sure the patient can actually withstand recompression therapy.
With regards to chamber capabilities, it is a fact that not all hyperbaric facilities
are capable of dealing with all cases, and the closest recompression chamber
might not be the most appropriate. Also, a chamber’s operational status
can change, so you may arrive to find it is no longer open. Chambers have limited room
to conduct treatments, so the facility you are driving to may not even be available.
And of course, chambers may close for scheduled maintenance or staff holidays,
or may have limited staff available because of a high daytime patient load, and so on.
Prior notification from an evaluating facility is usually necessary to begin
the call-in procedure to staff a hyperbaric treatment, and most hyperbaric facilities
have regular daytime business hours and are not staffed in the evenings or on weekends.
Then there is the fact that some chamber facilities choose not to
staff their unit after hours, while others simply do not treat divers.
The rule of thumb is - when in doubt, call DAN. DAN maintains a database of hyperbaric facilities
willing to, and capable of, treating divers. It is challenging to ensure this database is current,
as most chambers do not routinely report their status to DAN.
Once you have begun administering first aid and activated local emergency medical services (EMS),
DAN can help you and EMS determine the best course of action for the case as reported. If
the need for recompression therapy seems obvious, DAN can confirm chamber availability with the
closest facility. The nearest medical facility will not necessarily have hyperbaric medicine,
but is still the preferred option. Unlike most freestanding hyperbaric facilities,
hospital settings have advanced diagnostic capabilities, and a multidisciplinary setting
ensures proper diagnosis and a stable patient before recompression therapy.
Remember, hospitals and urgent-care facilities have a virtually unlimited supply of oxygen,
intravenous fluids and medications. A critically ill patient needs to be stabilised
before and during transport to a chamber and should be transferred under medical supervision.
Transporting a diver without a proper evaluation may adversely affect the diver’s health
and treatment outcome. Once the diver becomes a patient,
transportation will move quickly and efficiently.
Got a medical query? As always, DAN is available to discuss the relevant concerns of injuries,
illnesses and the medications used to treat them. Leave your question below,
and remember, if you enjoyed this video, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel,
and check out our playlist for more inspirational and educational content.
As always, stay safe – and if you are going diving soon, enjoy!