Activity report 2016

The" Certifying Board for Diving Medical Advisors (CB)" has been constituted in December 2012. A statute has been edited and endorsed by the first board members, based on the agreement between the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna di Studi Universitary e di Perfezionamento, Pisa and the European Diving Technology Committee (EDTC) as well as the consensus statement 2009 of the Pisa University initiative for medical and physiological support of complex and deeper diving ("The Pisa initiative").

The primary goal of the CB was to organise an independent assessment of diving medical advisors, doctors having completed their diving medical training after the Level 2D diploma by an appropriate skills training and practical experience. These activities however had to be postponed until a certain number of candidates have passed the practical skills training. As this practical training has shown to be unrealistic in the way it was planned after the standards revision 2011, the CB has strived for a second goal of the statutes, the elaboration of a databank of qualified diving medicine physicians.

Due to the retirement from scientific activities of our Dean David Elliott, the CB has been reconstituted as follows: Jordi Desola (Chair), Roland vanden Eede (Vice), Remo Bedini (Databank manager), Jürg Wendling (administration), Jan Risberg, Alf Brubbak, Jack Meintjes, Antonio L'Abbate (retired), David Elliott (retired).

The databank for diving medical physicians is now fully operative. In a first step it was opened for medical examiner of divers (MED). The databank is hosted at the Pisa Sant'Anna University. The databank is open in internet for public use, giving information about designated MEDs, their practice address and specific qualifications. It is possible to insert diving medical certificates of examined divers, that will be open for being checked by employers or other MEDs.

National coordinators have been identified as assistants for the assessment of MED applications to the databank. Their responsibility is in assuring proper assessment of the applications before being designated as MED on our list. The conditions to be designated MED and the task of the national coordinators is described and visible on the website edmd.eu.

Our activity report has to be published on a website addressed to the diving medical public. Therefore, it is hosted for the moment at the edmd.eu website.

The existence and function of the databank has been communicated to the relevant organisations like EDTC, DMAC; IMCA and ECHM.

Next steps:

- Reapproval of the statutes (due 2017 according to the signed statutes 2012)

- Nomination of new members of the CB

- Organise the assessment for Level 2D doctors

Jürg Wendling, Secretary