Advanced Rescue SCUBA Diver

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The Advanced Rescue SCUBA Diver course (ARSDC) is a continuation of the Rescue SCUBA Diver Course, and is intended for technical divers, public safety divers, occupational divers, and leadership level divers. It is not intended for recreational divers at the MSD level and below. It trains divers in the knowledge and skills needed to effectively manage rescues, solve more complex problems, and handle advanced technical rescue situations on land, in the water at the surface, and underwater.

This is a certification course for qualified certified rescue scuba divers who desire to assume greater rescue capabilities during diving activities.

The training emphasizes recognition, response, coordination, and accident supervision and management, with practical applications in open water. This course is designed to provide the knowledge and skills necessary to:

• Help prevent diving accidents.
• Recognize life-threatening diving situations.
• Correctly initiate and/or supervise rescue/assist procedures across a range of scenarios.
• Effectively perform in-water rescue/assist techniques and procedures ranging from rapid surface swimmer deployments and rescues to underwater entrapment and disentanglement.
• Correctly manage rescue assistants during and after rescues.
• Provide immediate, effective post-rescue aid and assessments.
• Communicate with advanced levels of care.
• Correctly manage a diving emergency with adjustments for local requirements.
• And more.

Graduates are considered competent to perform assists and rescues in aquatic situations so long as the situation approximates one for which they have been trained.

The ARSDC prepares divers with the ability to effectively recognize and prevent foreseeable emergencies, to manage emergency events when they do occur, and to effectively provide search and rescue/recovery capabilities within advanced scenarios.

Completion of the ARSDC does NOT imply an individual has attained the "highest" level of rescue training/certification, nor assert with certification that individual or organizational training is "complete". Instead, emphasis is strongly placed on continuing education and training post-certification as "the standard" for all, and that both continuation / progression training should take place regularly, and recertification should be sought periodically.

This course is a minimum 80 hour block of instruction program.

The minimum age for this course is:

• 18 years or older.

The minimum prerequisites for this course are:

• RSD certified.
• MSD certified.
• BLS (CPR/AED/First Aid) certified by a recognized agency within the previous 12 calendar months.
• O2 Provider certified by a recognized agency within the previous 12 calendar months.
• DFA Pro certified within the previous 24 calendar months.
• Candidates must have good swimming skills, including a good development of basic swim strokes, and pass a physical fitness test and a class 1 swim test prior to being allowed to enroll in the course (see below).
• It is STRONGLY recommended that students have at least 100 logged dives, and have spent time practicing basic and advanced level skills on each dive, before considering enrolling in this course. Including: neutral buoyancy, breathing, finning, navigation, dive planning, gas management, understanding dive science, use of equipment, etc.
• Candidates must have the ability to remain calm in stressful situations on shore, in the water on the surface, and underwater.

Students must supply their own equipment, and all equipment must meet safety requirements.

Students must supply their own rescue and first aid equipment, and all equipment must meet safety requirements (packing list will be provided).

The ARSDC is a physically demanding course, requires surface rescue swimmer competency as a part of the course, and candidates must be able to work as an effective member of a team. For acceptance into the program, all candidates must individually complete:

• A fitness test consisting of a timed run, crunches, push-ups, pull-ups, a non-stop swim at a designated length,
• A survival swim,
• A tow of another diver (both with and without equipment) for a designated distance,
• A recovery of weight from a designated depth,
• An open water swim with mask, snorkel, and fins for a designated distance,
• A free-dive to a designated depth,
• And must be able to demonstrate proficiency of all basic dive skills, navigation and basic search techniques in limited visibility, placement and recovery of a surface marker at a designated depth, proper techniques for entries, exists, pushes, and tows, and all basic rescue skills, including managing panicking survivors at the surface and underwater, and recoveries of unconscious divers both on the surface and underwater.

Note: DAN DFA-Pro certification meets the CPR/FA/O2 requirement for entry into this course if completed within the previous 12 calendar months.

This course meets the prerequisite rescue training for NAUI Skin Diving Instructor, NAUI Assistant Instructor, NAUI Divemaster, and NAUI Instructor certifications.

Course graduates will receive a lifetime internationally recognized Advanced Rescue SCUBA Diver certification from the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI), and will be considered competent to perform advanced rescues and assists in open water, as well as manage rescue efforts, provided the diving site and diving situations approximate those of the course.