Available at DAN.org/Return, the guide has helped thousands of people get back in the water safely in the past few months. Now, this new video brings the guide to life, highlighting the essential elements of a safe and successful return to diving after time away.
Dr. Moon is a professor of anesthesiology at Duke University and the medical director of the Duke Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology. He is also a former medical director of DAN.
Throughout his 40-year career in dive medicine and research, Dr. Moon has sought to gain a better understanding of cardiorespiratory function on the human body when subjected to environmental conditions such as being deep underwater or at high altitude.
The DAN Internship Program was created more than 20 years ago to give qualifiedstudents valuable experience in dive safety research. While the program is still research-oriented, its scope has expanded over the years to include projects that focus on other facets of DAN’s mission to help divers in need of emergency medical assistance and to promote dive safety through education.
Throughout 2021, experts from DAN’s Research, Risk Mitigation, and Medical Servicesteams will give presentations on topics relevant to divers, dive pros and dive business owners as we look beyond the COVID-19 pandemic and resume diving and traveling.
Because DCS isn’t the most straightforward diving injury, myths and misconceptions about it tend to arise. DAN is committed to continually educating divers about it, and we’ve decided to clarify a few of the most common misconceptions about it to ensure that all divers are better able to recognize DCS, respond to it and get the treatment they need in time.
While the most exotic of these potentially dangerous organisms are fairly well known, the more mundane sometimes cause uncertainty. Know what’s most likely to cause an injury on your next dive so you can relax and enjoy making bubbles.
In part one of this two-part series we’ll refresh your knowledge of wound care and treating common marine stings; next month we’ll cover injuries that involve scrapes, bites and penetrating wounds.
Interest among researchers has existed for a few decades, but it has increased in recent years as studies by such organizations as Duke University the University of South Florida have yielded intriguing results.
A recent big-data study performed by a DAN Europe research team used modern statistical analysis techniques to dig into a sample of nearly 40,000 open-circuit recreation dives and look for patterns and clues about DCS risk factors in real-world cases. Some of what they’ve found confirms our previous knowledge and opens entirely new avenues for research into the factors that contribute to DCS risk. Here’s what we’ve learned.
Diving on a blistery morning can be fun, but shivering your way through an hour of decompression can put you on a fast track to the local chamber. It is up to you to make sure that you are adequately prepared for your dive, and for the aftermath. It is easy to end up cold on a dive through no fault of your own, but knowing the signs and symptoms of hypothermia before you dive will help you know when you might be pushing things just a little too far.
These situations are especially daunting in remote locations. Learning how to respond to some of the most common medical emergencies before your next offshore trip or diving expedition could help you save a life. Do you know how to identify the early warning signs of these common emergencies?
