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| Title: | Physical Fitness of Scientific Divers: Standards and Shortcomings. |
| Authors: | Ma, AC
Pollock, NW |
| Keywords: | DIVING
Scientific Diving
medical fitness
physical competency
medical evaluation
physical fitness |
| Issue Date: | 2007 |
| Publisher: | American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) |
| Citation: | NW Pollock and JM Godfrey (Eds.) The Diving for Science…2007, Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS), Twenty-sixth annual Scientific Diving Symposium, University of Miami, Miami, FL. |
| Abstract: | Scientific diving standards provide guidelines for program oversight, crew and equipment requirements, and diver selection. Diver selection is primarily based on medical fitness and physical competency criteria. Physical competency is generally evaluated through certification records and initial tests of swimming skills and in-water diving abilities. Continuation of active status requires periodic medical evaluation, current emergency care certifications, and documentation of diving activity exceeding minimum requirements. While individual institutions and programs may require additional evaluations, formal requirements for periodic assessment of physical fitness are notably absent from most parent standards. This may have evolved from an expectation that medical evaluation would adequately address physical fitness or that inadequate physical fitness was not an issue in the scientific diving community. Problematically, medical evaluation may not provide an effective evaluation of physical fitness, and physical fitness within the scientific diving community cannot be assured given societal trends toward decreasing fitness. This paper reviews the physical fitness-related content found in a cross-section of institutional, national and extra-national scientific diving standards and offers suggestions for formalizing periodic evaluation of physical fitness. |
| Description: | American Academy of Underwater Sciences (http://www.aaus.org/) |
| URI: | http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/6991 |
| ISBN: | 0-9800423-1-3 |
| Appears in Collections: | American Academy of Underwater Sciences
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Files in This Item:
| File |
Description |
Size | Format |
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| AAUS_2007_5.pdf | | 320Kb | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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