DCI Presentation

[dlegros]

Right-ho folks...

As many of you know, I work as an A&E nurse.

I am looking at putting together a teaching session for my colleagues on DCI.

For this, I need a little help from anyone here who has experienced DCI/possible DCI

When you became concerned did you attend your local A&E?

Did you make it clear you had been diving?

If anyone would rather not put info in the public domain, either PM me of email me off my profile.

I would be grateful for any assistance you can offer - in return I hope to train a group of nurses (and possible doctors) to be more aware of DCI and how to manage it effectively.

Thanks in advance

Dom

[DIVE BUDDHA]

i would like to say that i have been through our local nhs service and a+e

after getting bent !!!!

Although im not proud to say it !

what kind of info you after friend?and will help you with any info i can ?

[dlegros]

Cheers.

I am looking for the following sort of thing.

Did you inform the receptionist/assessment nurse that you had been diving?

If so, did you suggest DCI?

Did you have a diver card (the one about DCI with treatment and warnings)?

Did they take this on board and commence you on DCI first aid (lay down on a trolley and on O2)?

Did they contact RN Duty Doctor/DDRC?

Any other info you think may be of use as someone who has been through it - what can we as general A&E staff do better for divers?

Dom

[zepp]

Originally Posted by dlegros

I would be grateful for any assistance you can offer - in return I hope to train a group of nurses (and possible doctors) to be more aware of DCI and how to manage it effectively.

Thanks in advance

Dom

Top idea....Ask some doctors/nurses and I bet they wouldn't have a clue what treatment would be needed. Green on its way

[DIVE BUDDHA]

after realiseing i didnt feel very well i called the nhs direct phone number the morning after i had been diving they told me to go into the local a+e department !

on arrival i entered the a+e to be seen by the triage nurse

i told him i was a diver and may have d.c.i. symptoms

i sat down for a few minutes and by this time was feeling very lathargic and sleepy

within 5 minutes i was in the cubicle at the back of a+e on o2

then was the delay ! from entering the building to getting seen by a doctor was perhaps 2 hours and dureing this time i was drifting in and out as i was very sleepy ?

after the doctor had seen me she told me that she had spoken to gerry purdy at hull hyperbaric and another delay waiting for an ambulance to get me to hull!!! so from checking in to a+e at say 1pm in the afternoon i didnt get to hull until late evening !!!

and by the time the team had been mobalised it was 11 pm ish !!

so in a nut shell the area they fell down was lack of very quick comunication with the hyperbaric service ! and because i walked in not braught in by ambulance i think they didnt see it as life or death although it was a class 2 spinal bend !!! ps soory for rambling on

[dlegros]

Thanks for the input Yippee - that's exactly the sort of info I am looking for.

Anyone else?

Dom

[Larry Hadley]

Hi,
Sorry I don't know how to insert a link in here, but check out my post of the above title in Dive Medicine on 22/7/5.
Hope it helps.
Feel free to contact me directly if you need more info.
Larry

[dlegros]

Many thanks Larry, I had forgotten about your post - re-reading it made me wince about the actions/inaction of my colleagues - this is precisely the sort of incident I hope to avoid in our department.

BTW - for anyone who wants to look at Larry's post, it is here.

Dom

[nigelH]

Originally Posted by zepp

Top idea....Ask some doctors/nurses and I bet they wouldn't have a clue what treatment would be needed. Green on its way

Just thinking about the range of possibilities when somebody walks into A+E with 'a pain' makes my head reel.

A friend of mine is an Ambulance Paramedic and he says divers are a problem. Working by the sea they see divers and think to ask 'have you been scuba diving?' on some problems but would that occur to his opposite number in the Central Midlands?

[dlegros]

Originally Posted by nigelH

Just thinking about the range of possibilities when somebody walks into A+E with 'a pain' makes my head reel.

Absolutely - especially as common things happen commonly etc., which is why I also asked about people stating whether or they had been diving/suspected DCI

Originally Posted by nigelH

A friend of mine is an Ambulance Paramedic and he says divers are a problem. Working by the sea they see divers and think to ask 'have you been scuba diving?' on some problems but would that occur to his opposite number in the Central Midlands?

I doubt it, there are a few people in the department and the ambulance service that dive, but I wouldn't automatically ask as you would have to ask a vast percentage of presenting patients.

Dom