New Diver Medical Questionnaire Released
On the 25th June 2020, DAN (Divers Alert Network), WRSTC (World Recreational Scuba Training Council), RSTC (Recreational Scuba Training Council) and the Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society released a new diver medical questionnaire.
The new medical was two and a half years in the making. It was cross referenced against the old medical form with real scuba diving students.
PADI Courses
PADI will take on the new medical checklist and will use it for all of their scuba diving and freediving courses.
The process for the PADI Discover Scuba Diving appears to remain the same. Participants will complete the medical in the PADI DSD booklet and if there are any “Yes” answers there, revert back to the new medical questionnaire.
The new questionnaire is simpler and less ambiguous and should be a lot easier for new divers to understand.
It initially contains a ten question Yes/No checklist. As previously if all questions are answered “No” then the diver signs and dates the form and they are good to dive.
What is new is that 7/10 questions, if there is a “Yes” answer have a further series of checks/questions to be answered. There range between four to six additional questions to further clarify the divers fitness to dive. If all of these additional questions are answered “No” then the diver is good to dive even after the initial “Yes” answer. If the diver answer “Yes” to any of the additional questions then the same directive is followed as the previous medical questionnaire and the diver must get medical approval to dive from a physician.
Three of the initial ten questions, if answered “yes” have a requirement to get a medical practitioner approval without further questions.
The new medical questionnaire should reduce the number of divers that need to attend a physician prior to diving.
Please note though, medical checklists and questionnaires are vital to the safety of scuba diving. They should be taken seriously and if there is any doubt what so ever the diver should get approval for diving from a physician.
PADI Medical Checklist Download – English
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