Whether it’s being on the scene of an accident or witnessing a medical emergency, most people will be involved in a crisis at some point in their lives. First aid training and incident management skills empower people to step up and take action should these situations arise.
Developed by dive medicine physicians and diving educators, DAN’s courses are easy to understand and designed to provide you with the skills and confidence you need to respond in emergencies. DAN first aid courses prepare people to manage injuries related to scuba diving as well as those that occur in other settings. All courses meet current ILCOR and AHA guidelines. Isn’t it worth a few hours one evening or weekend to learn skills that could save a life?
Courses
Basic Life Support: CPR and First Aid (BLS)
This fundamental course prepares you to provide proper care for life-threatening illnesses or injuries until professional emergency medical care is available. The life-support skills taught in this course include one- and two-rescuer CPR for adults, children and infants. Use of automatic external defibrillators, bleeding management, assisting a choking victims and responding to a person in shock. The first aid skills taught include conducting secondary assessments, splinting and responding to medical emergencies.
This course is open to anyone, even non-divers.
Emergency Oxygen for Scuba Diving Injuries (EO2)
Administering emergency oxygen is the preferred first aid for scuba diving injuries, and early administration can drastically improve the outcome for an injured diver. The DAN Emergency Oxygen for Scuba Diving Injuries course teaches you how to administer life-saving oxygen first aid to divers who may be suffering from decompression illness (DCI). Additionally, this course will teach you how to recognize the signs and symptoms of decompression illness and respond to them accordingly. The emergency response skills taught in this course are not unique to scuba diving; they’re applicable to many other watersports and other activities.
Note: Current DAN BLS: CPR & FA, CPR: HCP provider or other nationally recognized full CPR training is prerequisite to this course.
The DAN Oxygen Grant Program allows DAN members who are certified in EO2 or DFA to apply for a low- or no-cost oxygen unit for use during scuba diving emergencies. Find out more or apply here.
Diving First Aid (DFA)
DFA is the most comprehensive first aid course in the dive industry. Divers and non-divers will gain an essential set of first aid and risk-mitigation skills.
DFA includes all the content from DAN Basic Life Support (BLS) including CPR and first aid skills, all the content of the Emergency Oxygen for Diving Injuries, plus neurological assessments and first aid for hazardous marine life injuries. In the neurological assessment portion of the DFA course, you will learn how to recognize neurological injuries by performing a neurological assessment and how to collect vital information useful to emergency medical services. In the hazardous marine life injuries portion, you will learn how to identify some of the most common marine life injuries as well as the first aid skills to treat them.
The DAN Oxygen Grant Program allows DAN members who are certified in EO2 or DFA to apply for a low- or no-cost oxygen unit for use during scuba diving emergencies. Find out more or apply here.
