Why are these programs important?

Commercial divers, who perform such tasks as conducting underwater research, capping off-shore oil and gas wells, fixing or laying pipeline, and splicing or repairing telecommunications cables that lie on the ocean floor, routinely work at depths of 150 to 300 feet, often stay under water for up to 30 days, and may even dive up to 1200 feet. In responding to emergencies such as broken pipelines, they are often required to work under extreme weather conditions, and they often work with heavy equipment that can lead to grave injury in case of an accident. If injured under water, these divers must be brought to the surface using high-tech pressurized chambers, a process that can take hours. To protect these workers and ensure their prompt treatment in case of a medical emergency, both the United States Coast Guard and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration require that diver medic technologists are present at all employersponsored dives.

-National Board of Diving and Hyperbaric Medical Technology (NBDHMT)

Accreditations/Affiliations

Commercial Diving Academy is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training (ACCET), which is listed by the US Department of Education as a nationally recognized accrediting agency. Commercial Diving Academy is licensed to operate as a private school. Licensed by the Commission for Independent Education, Florida Department of Education. Additional information regarding this institution may be obtained by contacting the Commission at 325 West Gaines St., Ste. 1414, Tallahassee, FL 32399-0400, toll-free telephone number (888)224-6684.

Commercial Diving Academy offers a comprehensive Diver Medic Specialist (DMS) program, internationally recognized and taught by paramedic instructors and conducted at The Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research (CSESaR), University of Florida College of Medicine at Shands Hospital, Jacksonville, FL. This program is recognized by the National Board of Diving and Hyperbaric Medical Technology (NBDHMT) as fulfillment of the EMT minimum requirement for Diver Medical Technician and commonly referred to as Module 16.

Dive Medics are required on-site in all offshore diving. Our program of study is an intensive 4 week program providing both clinical and practical training in emergency and Hyperbaric medicine. CDA works in conjunction with the Jacksonville Fire Department and University of Florida’s Medical Center, to provide access to clinical and practical training. Our on-site medical classroom provides the needed equipment to learn anatomy and physiology and the functions of the cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous systems. You will learn to administer blood pressure, detect respiratory rates and listen to lung sounds. Students will learn to operate a Hyperbaric chamber using treatment tables and O2 to treat dive injuries. All divers who take this program will gain a greater understanding of the science of diving and in turn be smarter, safer divers. The student who successfully completes this program will qualify as a DMT advanced by NBDHMT. Students will also be eligible to apply for certification, by examination, by the State of Florida as an Emergency Medical Technician-Basic (EMT-B).

Length of Course

The program of Study at Commercial Diving Academy requires a minimum of 4 weeks. The maximum number of weeks a student may participate in training is 6 weeks.

Reasons to Become a DMT

What is the Diver Medic Technician Training Program?

Diver Medic Technician Training Programs are designed to help save the lives of commercial divers who are injured while working on off-shore locations such as oil rigs, archaeological points of interest and oceanographic sites. These sites often are located hundreds of miles from the nearest hospital or emergency room and are accessible only by boat or helicopter. If a person is injured at these sites, transportation to a hospital or emergency room could take hours; however, life-threatening injuries often require treatment within the hour. In such situations, seriously injured people often would die without the immediate medical intervention provided by diver medic technicians.

What do the programs do?

These training programs are certified to train diver medic technicians. It teaches the kind of medical procedures used by emergency room and other physicians to revive patients and save lives. These techniques include advanced resuscitation and cardiac techniques that open blocked airways, relieve life-endangering buildup of pressure in the chest cavity and lungs, replace lost body fluids and blood, and close open wounds. These programs also teach diver medic technicians how the body responds physiologically to varying underwater pressures. That knowledge is used in two ways. First, it allows diver medic technicians to treat diving-related injuries such as decompression sickness—a possibly life-threatening condition that occurs when divers surface from the depths of the ocean too quickly. Second, knowing how the body responds to changing pressure allows diver medic technologists to bring injured divers to the water surface safely and treat their injuries until they can be evacuated.

"Our training is comprehensive, rigorous, and designed with individual student career objectives, abilities in mind.”

The faculty consists of educators with years of experience ranging from offshore diving in the oil fields of the South China Sea, Indian Ocean, North Sea and Gulf of Thailand to rivers and lakes around the world. Small classes allow for individualization in an environment that fosters intellectual exchange and practical, hands-on instruction.

In assuming its role in the development of professional divers and dive medics, the Academy is keenly aware of its responsibility in promoting an unyielding commitment to the highest standards of safety and offering the most up-to-date methods and practices in the field. To this end, the Academy is committed to continuing to develop and maintain strong partnerships with businesses in the region and making use of state-of-theart technology and training resources within the industry.

Fees:

“All divers who take this program will gain a greater understanding of the science of diving and in turn be smarter, safer divers."