Scuba Diving in Phuket Newsletter

Emergency First Response Replaces MFA

PADI's Medic first Aid (MFA) programme has been replaced by 2 separate courses to provide divers, and indeed anyone at all, the skills to save someone during a real life medical emergency.

In partnership with Emergency First Response Corp, the new programme, which covers skills with greater depth, is composed of the Emergency First Response Primary Care (CPR) and Emergency First Response Secondary Care (first aid) courses.

Like MFA, the predecessor to be replaced, the Primary Care course covers emergency care for life threatening emergencies. The Secondary Care course focuses on follow up care for injuries or illnesses that are not immediately life threatening.

Additional course options include use of Automated External Defibrillators to assist victims of heart failure, emergency oxygen use and aid to conscious choking adults.

The courses follow the standards set by the consensus view of the Basic Life Support Working Group of the International Liaison Committee On Resuscitation, the international standards group for emergency care.

The Emergency First Response training has been designed, much like similar courses from competing dive agencies such as Scuba Schools International (SSI), to be flexible in meeting participants' needs. Students can choose from independent study, video-guided or instructor led approaches.

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