PADI EFR (EMERGENCY FIRST RESPONSE) COURSE CAPE TOWN - INTRODUCTION

What do you do when you are on a scuba dive and one of your companions suffers a heart attack, or is involved in a dive accident and ends up bleeding profusely?  By knowing and applying some basic first aid skills when something happens while scuba diving, you can potentially save someone’s life.

The EFR (Emergency First Response) teaches you the basics in First Aid. Although this is not exclusively for scuba diving it will however be of immense value to any diver who wants to be able to react appropriately to emergencies that may arise while scuba diving. It is essential for the scuba diver that wants to take the next step in obtaining his Rescue Diver Certification.

Quick overview of our First Aid Course in Cape Town

  • Duration: 4 hours
  • Can be done during day or after hours
  • Learn vital first aid concepts
  • Learn how to use first aid equipment
  • Become a registered first aid provider

PADI EFR (EMERGENCY FIRST RESPONSE) COURSE OUTLINE

We combine independent study and practical skills training to afford you with the necessary proficiency to attend to someone in distress.

Tuition takes place in our classroom in Cape Town, and can be done during the day, or in the evening. Expect it to take about 4 hours.

You will learn the following skills:

Primary First Aid:

  1. Scene Safety Assessment
  2. Universal Precautions - Communicable Disease Protection, including barrier use
  3. How to do a Primary Assessment
  4. Rescue Breathing & Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
  5. Conscious and Unconscious Care
  6. Obstructed Airway Management
  7. Serious Bleeding Management
  8. Shock Management
  9. Spinal Injury Management
  10. Automated External Defibrillator (AED) training
  11. Emergency Oxygen Use Orientation.

Secondary First Aid:

  1. Injury Assessment
  2. Illness Assessment
  3. Bandaging
  4. Splinting for Dislocations and Fractures

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE EFR COURSE

  1. What do we do in the classroom?
    We start the session with a DVD, which explains the different skills, and runs through a few scenarios. We try to make this as practical as possible and relate it to things that could happen while you scuba dive.  After this, we do the practical part. We have a CPR doll on which we practice, and we also practice some of the skills on participants.

  2. Is the EFR course only for scuba divers?
    No! The EFR course is recognized as a basic First Aid Course, and is valuable to both divers and non-divers.

  3. How practical is the course?
    You get to practise each of the skills physically until you get it right. In terms of application in the real world, you never know when you might the skills that you learn in this course.

  4. Will I have to work with blood?
    No, there is no real blood. We do however practise putting gloves on and taking them off without getting blood on your hands – in this scenario we use tomato sauce to simulate blood.

  5. How fit do I need to be?
    Not fit at all.

  6. Should I do refresher courses from time to time?
    You should do a refresher course every 2 years to keep your skills sharp, and to stay updated on the newest medical methods, technologies, and theories.

What have others said about Into the Blue Scuba Dive Center?

Globetrekker Oxford

“Top marks for safety and professionalism”....

The reason for giving five stars is not because my dive day was good - it was horrible, a complete washout, no viz, unpleasant swell, just all round yucky conditions.

However, that's nature, and dive operators can do nothing about it. What all dive operators should do is be as professional and customer-focused as the guys from ITB diving.

First thing to note is that ITB is considerably cheaper (by almost 1000.- Rand) than Simonstown operators, which is baffling considering that they also have the transport cost from Cape Town to budget for.

DMs, Instructors and Shopfloor staff are all super friendly and helpful; I even got picked up from my Cape Town digs and dropped off afterwards, free of charge.

On the boat, I saw all the emergency and redundancy gear I like to see: twin engines (VERY important!), Oxygen, comms gear, flares, the lot. Briefings were thorough, and buddy check was insisted on.

The trip to Seal Rock in the RIB was fun in the swell, but when we got there the captain did not let us dive because of the unsafe conditions. Disappointing as this was, he was totally right. Low tide and heavy swells are a dangerous combination this close to the rocks, and as for trying to get back into a RIB in seas like this....
We then tried the PMB wreck, where zero viz and nasty vertical swell separated the group and forced us out of the water after 25 minutes.

The captain did offer to try another spot but was honest enough to tell us that in his opinion it was going to be rubbish everywhere, and so we called it a day.

Back at the dive shop, we were all offered a re-schedule, but as I'm out of time I was given half my money back. I know from experience that this is not the norm in the industry, sadly.

Into the Blue is a top notch outfit that does things by the book, with a strong safety focus and very customer centered, on top of offering reasonable pricing and a fair refund policy. You'll have a hard time to find a better operator anywhere around. They'll definitely be my first choice when I pass through next, and for doing my IDC sometime this year.

Just hope mother nature will be in better mood then.

Visited April 2017

 

Amy Musto

Had the best diving experience with Into the Blue, first...

dive was a ship wreck followed by doing yoga moves with the seals. Would highly recommend diving with these guys, very professional and fun! I sadly lost my go pro whilst diving with the seals but I'll always have the memories!

Jacques Vermeulen

Best dive shop ever! People are friendly and helpful!...

Cape Town diving for the win!