Dive Accident Management (Nick Bird, M.D., MMM)

Synopsis: The Dive Accident Management talk addresses the underlying physics and physiology of decompression illnesses and appropriate pre-hospital management of dive injuries. Causes of diving related fatalities and primary methods of accident prevention as well as signs and symptoms of decompression illness and treatment procedures are described.
Short biographer of the presenter: Dr. Bird is the CEO and Chief Medical Officer at DAN and oversees the mission departments of medicine, research and education. He started diving in 1984 and became an instructor in 1989. He taught diving in southern and northern California prior to attending medical school. After medical school he completed a residency in family medicine, and subsequently joined the US Air Force as a flight surgeon and served in Iraq. He received his initial training in hyperbaric medicine while stationed at Travis Air Force Base and completed a fellowship in diving and hyperbaric medicine at the University of California San Diego. He then served as the medical director for hyperbaric medicine at Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George, UT prior to coming to DAN.